Back to Basics
by Wolf General
Summary: The road to success is paved with great wins and great losses, more of the latter than the former in most cases. However in this world there are those which, through great persistence and courage, achieve their desires.
1. Chapter 1

_Duel Rules; Volume One; The Basics_

_In the game of Duel Monsters there are three types of cards: Monster, Magic, and Trap. Duelists make a deck of forty or more cards that combine these three cards types to create combinations which allow them to win a duel by bringing their opponent's life points to zero._

_Duels can have different rules, but in the most original cases duelists have 8000 life points at the start. They then spend each turn summoning monster cards from their hand, and combining those monster cards with magic cards to achieve numerous different results, such as clearing their opponent's field of potential threats, powering up their own monsters, or weakening the strength of the monsters on their opponent's field._

_After they have completed combat for that turn, it is normal for them to place trap cards face-down on their field as a defense against their opponent's own magic and monster cards._

_This is the absolute basic idea behind a duel. Of course the game of Duel Monsters is far more complex than that, but for a beginner of the game it is best to learn how to duel before they begin the road to an expert. _

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The road to success is paved with great wins and great losses, more of the latter than the former in most cases. However in this world there are those which, through great persistence and courage, achieve their desires. It is the desires of those people that shape the world.

This is the story of one such person, who through the assistance of both friends and his own determination reaches the goal he has set for himself…

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Back to Basics; Beginner Level

Chapter 1: How It All Began

"Alright Kagaiya-kun," Adjusting the two play mats on the table, a black-haired teenager dressed in a black school uniform sat down casually in one of the plastic orange chairs and motioned to the mat sitting on the other side of the table. "Let's begin, shall we? I have some other appointments to keep today so I won't be able to waste time like we normally do."

Across from him a younger brown-haired boy in a similar uniform sat down in the other chair. "Alright Kashi-sensei." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a deck of brown-backed cards and placed them onto the lower right area of the mat in a marked square, though it was placed a bit crooked compared to the square.

Kashi did the same, but he placed his deck down perfectly aligned with where it needed to be. The other difference between his deck and Kagaiya's was that his cards were each individually protected within an orange plastic sleeve. "Do you remember what we do first?"

"Hang on Sensei; I want to play with the ante rule," His brown bangs bouncing up and down as he repeatedly adjusted in his seat, Kagaiya started fishing something out of his pants pocket.

Sighing as if he was facing a hopeless situation, Kashi adjusted his glasses slightly and reached into the pocket of his school coat. "Alright then, Kagaiya-kun. What card will you put up?"

"This." Kagaiya held a single purple-bordered card high up above his head like it was some kind of treasure. "I just got this card today, and it's really good."

Laughing, Kashi gently plucked the card from the boy's hand and placed it down in the small space in between the play mats. "Indeed, Dragon Capture Jar is a very powerful trap against decks that run large amounts of dragon type monsters. Now that card is a rare, so of course I at least have to match its rarity…hmmm…" Pulling a card out of his coat pocket, he flipped it up for Kagaiya to see. "Will this do nicely for my ante?"

Staring wide-eyed at what had been drawn out, Kagaiya nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I'd be really happy to play for that card!"

"Very well then," Kashi replied while placing the card down in between the play mats. "Tell me then; what do we do first before we start the duel?"

"We both cut the other player's deck, right?" Kagaiya reached across the table and took half of Kashi's deck, placing it off to the side where he proceeded to add the other section of the deck on top.

Kashi had done the exact same while this had been happening. "Exactly right. And then?"

"We…" Kagaiya sat back in his chair and thought about it. "Don't we play Janken to determine who goes first?"

"That's also correct." Putting his hand behind him, Kashi got ready at the same time as his younger student did, and then they both shot their hands forward. After a moment of silence they both looked down at their hands, seeing that Kashi had chosen paper and Kagaiya had chosen rock. "I go first."

They both adjusted in their seats and bowed their heads to each other. "Let's have a good game."

Kashi's hands moved calmly out and removed five cards from the top of his deck. "I begin. Draw." Removing a sixth card from his deck, he added it to the others in his hand and looked across the table at the nervous expression of Kagaiya's face. ("Alright then Kagaiya-kun, let's see how well you've learned this game. I'll start with a simple problem.")

His free hand came out and grabbed a single card. "Here I come, Kagaiya!" That single card came down face-up in a horizontal position on the table with an echoing slap noise, showing a yellow-bordered card with a picture of a little green caterpillar on it. "I summon Petit Moth in defense mode. End turn." (300/200)

"Alright, here I go then!" His bangs bouncing again as he tried to copy the cool movements of his teacher, Kagaiya launched his hand out and proceeded to push half his deck off the edge of the table. "AH!" The rest of it went as he tried to stop what was already falling from getting away. In the end most of his cards wound up in a big mess on the ground.

Kashi sighed and shook his head bemusedly while he watched his student gather his cards and shuffle them up into the shape of a deck once more. "That would be a game loss, correct?"

"I'm really sorry though!" Dropping back into his seat and placing his deck at the edge of his mat so that Kashi could cut it again, the boy looked sheepishly as his feet. "Come on, no one is going to be so stingy about the rules if it was an accident."

"I beg to differ." Adjusting his glasses, Kashi cut his student's deck and placed it back in the deck zone on the mat. "There are many players in this world that play this game for large cash sums. They might not be above using technicalities to secure their victory. That's why, along with being an excellent duelist, you have to be well-schooled in proper use of the rules. Anyway, continue with your turn."

Kagaiya carefully reached out and pulled the top card off of his deck, adding it to the others in his hand. "Let's see…" Nervously shuffling the other cards in his hand around, he realized he was holding one of his most powerful monsters. "Alright then Sensei, take this!" Tossing the card down onto the mat in a bad imitation of Kashi's placing motion; he brought out a card that had a picture of a four-armed woman standing in it. "I summon Succubus Knight in attack mode!"

Kashi frowned and snapped a hand up right in front of Kagaiya's face to stop him. "Hang on Kagaiya-kun, how many level stars on the card?"

This brought the younger boy to a halt and he looked down at the card he had just played. "Ummm, five?" After a moment of awkward silence he meekly reached down and picked the card up, shuffling it back into his hand with even more nervousness than before. "…whoops…"

"Level five and six monsters cannot be normal summoned or set without sacrificing a monster on your field." Kashi reached over and picked up a pencil sitting on the table, making a mark on the pad of paper next to him. "You're quite off your game today, aren't you?"

"Well…yeah…" Kagaiya looked at the remaining cards in his hand and stopped at one particular card. ("Hey…that's a good idea.") "That's fine, I'll play this instead! My Gaia the Fierce Knight!" The card was about to hit the table when he realized that Kashi had that disbelieving look on his face again. "What!? It's a level seven monster, not a five or six!"

"Use logic for a moment though," Kashi held up one finger. "If it takes one sacrifice to summon a five or six star monster, and level sevens and higher tend to be stronger than them…" Another finger came up next to the original one. "Then wouldn't it make sense that two sacrifices instead of one would be needed?"

"…oh yeah, I suppose that makes sense." Frustration mounting, Kagaiya grabbed a green-bordered card from his hand and threw it down onto the series of zones behind where the monsters went, though the speed and inaccuracy of his action nearly sent the card sliding right off the mat. "I activate Tribute to the Doomed, so I can destroy a monster in play!"

"You need to discard a card from your hand though." Kashi commented mildly.

"Argh, fine!" Grabbing a random card from his hand, the boy tossed it down into the zone right above where his deck was. That was the graveyard, where all used cards went during the duel. "There, I discarded a card!"

Kashi picked up his Petit Moth card and placed it into his graveyard. "Alright then, I'm wide open."

"Yeah, and I'm going to take you down right here and now!" Kagaiya looked down at his hand and his excitement disappeared as he realized something was wrong. He had figured out that he couldn't summon level five or higher monsters this soon. However he could summon a level four or lower monster, but the single one that had been in his hand wasn't there anymore…

"Is there a problem?" Kashi already had an idea what the problem was, but he didn't feel like commenting on it. Kagaiya probably already felt stupid enough.

("I discarded the only monster I could summon…") Hanging his head slightly, Kagaiya folded his cards up into a single stack that remained in the grasp of one hand. "I end my turn…"

"So I'll start mine." Drawing again, Kashi inwardly sighed and placed a new monster down. ("I won't hold back, sorry Kagaiya.")

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_An hour later…_

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Kagaiya had gone home long ago. This left Kashi to finish cleaning up the classroom he had borrowed the use of for his lesson. While he put the chairs away he ran through the plays made by Kagaiya over and over in his head. There had to be a way to help his worst student play better. ("His grasp of the game's rules are poor, and he seems to forget everything I teach him by the next lesson…what am I going to do with that kid? He wants to be a professional duelist but he's terrible…")

Packing the folded play mats into his backpack, Kashi looked out at the orange afternoon sun and the blowing trees. "He's not ready to go to a tournament, and yet he's been my student for at least a month. I really wish there was something I could do to make him better…"

Their town was rather small, just big enough to have a high school and all subsequent schools underneath it. However that was about it. The biggest tournament in reachable range of those that lived in town was held by the only hobby shop still in business. That was it. ("However that means the number of players they get for the weekend is pretty much every amateur duelist in town. It's a good number, at least fifty or so.")

Locking the classroom door behind him, the lone junior high student started on his way out. ("Oh well, I guess that's a problem for another day. The weekend has just started and I intend to enjoy it by going to that same tournament tommorow.")

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"ARGH!" Kagaiya kicked a nearby empty juice can high into the air in front of him, not even watching where it landed. "Am I really that bad!? I finally saved up enough to afford the tournament entry fee too! Man, why do I suck so much!?" No one answered him because he was alone on the dirt road that led to his house, his only company the long grass that was swaying in the wind on both sides of him.

Ever since he was a kid he had watched the National Duelist League on television every chance he could. In the world Duel Monsters fell into the same league that many other niche games fell into when it came to their global popularity. To be a professional Duel Monsters player meant that you were recognizable, like a professional sports player.

It was his dream to join the ranks of the world's greatest players. So he had worked hard to make as much money as he could, since his family didn't give him an allowance. Therefore he had to buy the cards for his deck from the cheapest packs for sale at The Starshot, the hobby store on the other side of town.

To accomplish his dream he had sought out someone to teach him how to duel, and how to be the best. His focus was to one day join Duel Academy, which was supposed to be the ultimate place for any aspiring duelists to go. However until then he needed someone to teach him how to be better.

That was where Kashi-sensei had come in. Kashi-sensei had put up posters for a Duel Monsters tutoring service, and while Kagaiya couldn't pay the fee he managed to convince Kashi-sensei to teach him how to duel on the promise that when he became famous he would pay the total fees of all those lessons.

He didn't own any really rare cards, beyond his absolute best monster but according to Kashi-sensei even that monster wasn't really very good. "I've got a terrible deck, a terrible dueling style, and I can't even remember anything past the most basic rules of the game. How am I supposed to be a professional duelist? I can't even beat someone that's trying to lose to me on purpose!"

"...place your off-hand on top of the deck, like this. You push your middle and index fingers on top of the card while using your thumb on the underside to put it in a position so you can withdraw your hand swiftly. If you do it correctly you'll get a whish noise when the card slides away from the rest of the deck." That same sound was heard just then.

Stopping in his tracks, Kagaiya found that he had arrived home without even realizing it. Home was the two-story house that his family had owned since before he had been born. And right next to it was the home of his only friend in this whole town, Heiku Chiji.

Hopping the fence that separated the road from the side of Heiku's house, he strolled into the backyard casually and grinned at what he saw. "That's Heiku for you…trying to be cooler than he really is."

Amongst the numerous flowerbeds and planted trees sat two kids his age. One was a black-haired boy wearing a white t-shirt and brown shorts, and the other was a girl dressed in a girl's uniform for the same high school as Kagaiya. The boy glanced over his shoulder and shot his friend a glare. "Who are you to comment on how cool I am, Kaga?" Tapping the top of the short-legged wooden table they were sitting at, he smirked confidently. "Care to prove me wrong in a duel?"

"I'll pass thanks. I've got other things to worry about right now." Kagaiya waved half-heartedly to the girl. "Hey Rose, you just get out of school or something?"

The girl started to open her mouth but was cut off by a derisive snort from her just slightly older than her brother. "She went to a study session at a friend's house, being the little goody-two-shoes that she is." Rose punched her brother in the arm in response to the insult.

Laughing, Kagaiya walked over and grabbed the lip of the fence that separated their two backyards. "Alright, I need to get home. Later." Leaping over the top, he landed in the plain grassy yard that was owned by his family. Unlike Heiku's backyard, his didn't have any kind of special decorations. It was just plain grass. The only thing that stood out was the old wooden shed in the corner, but that didn't add anything interesting to look at.

Walking to the screen door which led into his house and pulling it open, Kagaiya removed his shoes and carried them inside. "I'm home mom!"

"Welcome home dear, how was school?" His mother's voice came from inside the kitchen, where the delightful smells of dinner that warmed his nose came from.

"It was okay, I guess." Kagaiya grabbed an apple from a bowl sitting on an end table just outside the kitchen entryway and took a bite out of it. "Anything I can do to help out before dinner?"

"Actually yes there is." His mother's hand came into view holding a piece of paper with something scribbled on it. "Could you please go out to the shed and find the box labeled with the number written on this paper? There are some recipe books inside and I need the one labeled 'Western Deserts'."

Snatching the paper and shoving it into his pocket, Kagaiya carried his shoes and apple back out the way he had come. "Yes ma'am!"

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The hinges to the shed's door squealed in protest as Kagaiya forced it open, waving his hand repeatedly to try and clear the clouds of dust that poured out when he disturbed their resting place. "Sorry Rusty, I need to find something so I'll have to bother you a little bit."

Rusty was his nickname for the shed, which had been built the same year he was born. Kagaiya's parents had originally come from America, and had moved to this town because they wanted to learn about Japanese culture. Kagaiya was an unknown factor at the time though, but thanks to that he had dual citizenship.

On topic though, the shed was where his parents stored all their old junk and other things they didn't want cluttering the house. "They must have had a lot of junk though…" There were boxes piled high almost everywhere. In fact he was finding trouble moving around inside the cramped confines of the shed.

Finally he saw the labeled box, the brown cardboard dark in a pattern similar to the numbers that had been written on the piece of paper his mother had given him. Working the top off the box, he starting lifting up book after book into the sunlight coming in from the open doorway to try and find the one labeled "Western Deserts".

From next to him something made a dull thud noise, crashing down at his feet. "Whoops, better fix that…" Putting the current books he was looking at to the side, Kagaiya reached down and picked up whatever had fallen. If the feel and shape of it were any indication, it was some kind of jewelry box. "That's kind of careless, why would they…"

Out of the very bottom of his vision he could have sworn there had been a faint glitter of light. "Wow, what kind of stuff…" Flipping the top off the box, he held it up to the sunlight and blinked at the single item sitting in the center of the wooden container. It was wrapped in a pink cloth, retaining a fairly rectangular shape. "A…deck?"

Even though the first thing that came to mind when cards had been mentioned had been Duel Monsters, he could tell that the cards were too big. There was only one other possibility then. "Tarot cards? I didn't know my parents were interested in that kind of stuff…"

His hand touched the silky texture of the pink cloth around the Tarot Deck and for a moment he felt an overwhelming wave of nostalgia. This caught him off guard and he snapped his hand back as if he'd been burned. ("What was that!?")

After a moment of uncertainty he picked up the deck again. Once more there was that feeling of memory, things once existing and now lost. With shaky hands he unwrapped the deck, revealing the edge of a red-backed card. Keeping the cloth around all but the end of the deck, he inspected it intently. "Weird, but not all that scary."

He suddenly remembered what Heiku had been talking about when he had gotten home, and grinned mischievously. "The powers of a good draw, huh?" Placing the wrapped deck on the wooden floor he grasped the top card of the deck. "Here I go then, I'll show you a real draw!" His fingers pressed down on the card, bending it more than necessary as he prepared to pull it free forcefully…

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Inside the kitchen Kagaiya's mother hummed to herself while she finished washing the pans used to cook dinner. It pleased her to no end that her son was such a good boy. When they had moved here originally she had been worried that the fact he looked completely different from the other children might have caused him problems in school, but he had avoided getting in fights.

Outside the window, Kagaiya could be seen running out of the shed breathlessly and dropping to his knees, acting as if he was sick to his stomach. "Oh dear, was there a spider or something?"

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Body shaking, Kagaiya felt like he was on the verge of vomiting. When he had removed a card from the Tarot deck there had been…

Numbly, he rolled onto his back and looked up at the sky, trying to clear the fog in his mind. ("I can't remember what I saw, but it was terrifying…") Shielding his eyes with a hand, he realized that the card he had taken off the deck was still pinched in his grasp. The face of it was so faded that he couldn't even make out what it was supposed to be.

After taking a couple of minutes to recover his breath, Kagaiya stood up and walked into the shed once more. Without saying or thinking another word he replaced the Tarot card and deck where they were supposed to be, found the recipe book his mother had wanted, and got the shed locked as quickly as humanly possible. He had no wish to ever go near that Tarot deck again as long as he lived, that much he was sure of.

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_A few hours later…_

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"Good night!" Calling down the stairs to his parents in the living room, Kagaiya closed the door to his room and collapsed on the bed. "Today's been a busy day. Tomorrow is the weekend though so I finally get to…"

The cell phone on his nightstand started ringing incessantly until he finally picked it up just to stop the ruckus. Holding it up to his ear, he sighed and pressed the call button. "Hello?"

"_Hey Kaga,"_ Heiko's overly cheerful voice called out from the speaker, _"You're still going to come with me to the tournament tomorrow, right?"_

"Huh?" Rolling onto his side, Kagaiya yawned loudly right into the receiver. "What are you talking about?"

"_You don't remember!?"_ Sounding a little angry, Heiko's voice picked up in volume and forced Kagaiya to sit up and pull the phone back or risk losing his eardrums. _"Yesterday we decided that we were going to get up early and walk to the Starshot so we could try and trade cards with the store owner! Plus we were going to watch the Favorites play to learn about their strategies!"_ The Favorites were the top six players in town, who always made it to the final eight in the Starshot tournament.

"You don't need to shout, do you?" Kagaiya muttered this to himself and brought the phone back up to his mouth. "Right, right, I'll see you tomorrow at seven then?"

"_You'd better be up and out of your house by six-fifty this time, got it!?"_

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. My mother nags less than you do." Turning the phone off, he yawned and slid out of bed to turn the lights off. Collapsing back into his sheets, he started to slip off to sleep…

But something was bothering him. It was a feeling like when trying to remember something just at the tip of the tongue. ("I don't have homework, and even if I did it wouldn't bother me when sleep is involved.") Getting up, he walked over to his desk and flicked on the lamp. At the corner of it was his deck, almost casually discarded there when he had come up to his room before dinner.

Pulling his chair back and sitting down, he took the stack of cards into his hand sleepily and started placing them face-up on the surface one at a time. ("What's wrong with me? It's not like I'm playing tomorrow so why do I have this sudden need to look my deck over?")

Though he was questioning himself mentally, physically he was already working. The few extra cards he had were sitting in a pile next to where his disassembled deck was, and in an almost dream-like state he worked on improving his deck until sleep finally overtook him, face planted atop some of the remaining cards that weren't part of the completed deck that now rested right next to his head.

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_Duelist Quiz: In Duel Monsters it has already been established what the types of cards are, so let's do a quick review. What colors are monster, magic, and trap cards? How many life points do the players normally start with? _

_Though there isn't a prize for answering correctly, feel free to post your answer in your review. _


	2. The First Encounter

_Duel Rules; Volume 1; Monster Types_

_Duel Monsters revolves around just that, monsters. Without monster cards you are unable to win, excluding very unique conditions. That is why the most diverse types of cards in this game are of course monster cards, with numerous different aspects to them including sub-type, attribute, and level. There are four monster card types:_

_Normal Monsters- These cards have a yellow border, and in their text box nothing but flavor text._

_Effect Monsters- These cards have orange borders, and in the text box there is what is called a special ability. The effect text tells the player specifically what that monster is able to do._

_Ritual Monsters- These cards have blue borders. They are special monsters that can only come out when a magic card called a Ritual Magic Card is played. Each one has a Ritual Magic Card meant for it specifically. This means that you must have both cards in your hand at the same time. Though these cards are hard to use, a good duelist can find ways to make them work and take advantage of their amazing power._

_Fusion Monster- These cards have purple borders. Unlike other cards, they are kept in a separate deck of cards called a Fusion Deck. The original method of summoning these monsters is through the effect of the magic card Polymerization. In the text box of Fusion Monsters there is two or more monster card names printed normally. When activating Polymerization, you send the named monsters from your field and hand to your graveyard to bring out the monster from your Fusion Deck to the field. _

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Back to Basics; Beginner Level

Chapter 2: The First Encounter

Kagaiya could hear the ringing of his alarm clock, reflexively throwing his hand out to hit the button and touching nothing but thin air. He probed around a little longer before drearily opening one eye and realizing the offender was across the room. Stumbling to his feet and sending a spray of assorted cards to the ground around him, he managed to make it to the screeching device and turn it off before preparing to partake in the softness of his bed…

Another noise stopped him, this time it was the ringing of his cell phone which was sitting next to the clock. ("Sleep…") Grabbing the slim device, he pressed the call button and, after three failed attempts involving him smacking himself in the face, held it to his ear. "Speaking…"

"_Kaga!"_ Heiku yelled from the other end of the line, nearly knocking his listener over with the volume of his voice alone. _"It's six-thirty and this is your wake-up call! Hurry up and get ready!"_

Muttering a mix of growls and yawns; Kagaiya turned the phone off and threw it onto his bed. ("I'm not going to get any sleep if I try to ignore him, so whatever…") He began to approach his door before noticing that when he had gotten up he'd taken his deck with him. Holding it up and looking at the bottom card, a tired sigh left his lips. "This is going to be a long day."

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"It's six-fifty-two, you…" Heiku was abruptly silenced by a piece of toast getting shoved into his mouth.

"I don't want to hear it, jerk," Shoving his hands into his pockets and rolling his shoulders to distribute the weight of his backpack, Kagaiya started the walk towards the Starshot while his friend rolled around on the ground trying to avoid choking on the piece of food that had almost been lodged in his neck.

For the occasion he had dressed in his nice red t-shirt with a logo of one of his favorite brands of soda on it, along with a pair of black shorts with his white tennis shoes. In other words, he was going to this tournament with no intention of looking cool at all.

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"Man, thanks to you my nice shirt is all ruined!" Brushing imaginary dust from his black t-shirt for the fifth time since they had been walking towards the Starshot, Heiku glared at Kagaiya's back while willing that a horrible accident would befall his friend, one which would result in him getting all dirty.

"I didn't tell you to go rolling around on the ground like a pig." Kagaiya's tone was extremely curt. He was angry at having been woken up and forced to come to a tournament that he wasn't going to enter. There was no doubt in his mind that entering would be a waste of his hard-earned money at his current skill level.

Turning the corner, they caught sight of the Starshot in all its glory. The store, quite literally, was making use of a warehouse used normally for storage to create a very spacious atmosphere. Even though they had just opened up for the day, he could see through one of the open sheet-metal doors that they were setting up the long tables and heavy play mats to make sure there was enough room for everyone.

"What the heck is that!?" Heiku pointed just across the lot, eyes wide in amazement.

Kagaiya turned his head and his eyes went wide too. "I don't know." It looked like someone had parked a really big trailer attached to a semi across the small parking lot that separated the Starshot from the wall, which in turn divided it from the other buildings on the street. However something was wrong with the trailer, as it was starting to fold open at the middle like something out of an anime. Its body collapsed into a dark-floored flat arena with a raised booth on both sides.

"No way, is that really what I think it is!?" Heiku's jaw dropped in amazement. "It has to be! It's a Solid Vision System Dueling Arena!"

"Are you serious!?" Kagaiya's earlier exhaustion and anger was blown away as he ran towards the unfolded arena. "You mean what they use in the National Dueling Tournaments!? One of the systems that project the cards into holographic images!? That Solid Vision System!?"

"Hang on, I'm gonna go ask the owner about this!" Heiku turned and nearly tripped over himself running inside the store.

Kagaiya was too entranced by the well-polished beauty of the metal that made up the arena to notice he was alone. ("So cool…")

"I take it you like our little setup?" Someone from off to his side asked, snapping him out of his daze. He turned and came face to face with a boy that couldn't have been any older than him. There was a fundamental difference between them though, and that was their appearances. Where Kagaiya had come to the tournament today not caring how he looked, the person talking to him had his black hair cut into a short well-groomed ponytail that matched well with the dark blue color of his eyes and the dark blue of his formal dress suit. "Are you a duelist?"

Realizing how absolutely messy and stupid he must have looked; Kagaiya cleared his throat loudly before nonchalantly glancing away from the arena. "I guess so; it's not a bad thing."

The other boy laughed politely at the response. "My name is Tensei Endo," He continued while extending a hand. "You are?"

"Kagaiya Tomoshi," replied Kagaya while taking the hand and shaking it firmly. "Is this thing yours?"

"Not exactly, though I am with the tour." Tensei looked up at the arena. "You see we're touring areas of Japan in an attempt to recruit new talent into the junior dueling league. Therefore, since this place is the only location in town that is signed up for official tournaments, we decided to set up shop here for today."

"So it's a demonstration of how the Solid Vision System works?" Kagaiya shoved his hands into his pocket and shook his head in disappointment. "That's kind of a snooze."

"I think you misunderstand our intentions," Tensei smiled and rested his back against the side of the arena. "There's a prize on the line, a Duel Disk, for anyone who can defeat me in a duel on this thing."

"…A Duel Disk…" Kagaiya's heart skipped a beat. ("Duel Disks are portable holographic dueling arenas, able to be used in almost any location where the satellites that control their actions can reach.") Those things were worth thousands of dollars, but they were just being given away if you could squeeze out a victory against somebody. "Is there a price for entry?"

"Nope, you're welcome to try only once though." Tensei could see the excited look in the other boy's eyes. "Want to give it a shot?"

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A few minutes later…

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Heiku ran out of the store at full speed. "Hey Kaga, you wouldn't believe why that thing is here! It's because…" He skidded to a halt as he realized that there were people in the booths attached to the arena. "Kaga, what are you doing up there!?"

"I'm about to take my shot at winning a Duel Disk!" Blue eyes twinkling, Kagaiya had already cut his opponent's deck and they had determined he was going first. ("I can't mess this one up…") He looked at the console in front of him, a black-colored copy of an ordinary series of card zones. If he remembered correctly whenever he put his cards in one of the field zones, a holographic representation of them would appear in the arena.

In the other booth, Tensei had yet to look at the five cards he had taken off of his deck. Instead he was watching Kagaiya's starting play. After all, this was a scouting duel, not a tournament game. ("Let's see how good you are, Kagaiya Tomoshi.")

Heiku, who should have been watching Kagaiya's side of the field, was instead looking up Tensei and rubbing his chin. "Now where've I seen that guy before?"

"It's my turn." Kagaiya drew the top card of his deck and added it to the other cards in his hand. ("Level four or lower, you can only summon a level four or lower.") He repeated this to himself over and over again while looking at each of the cards he had individually. "Alright, I set one monster face-down and end my turn." A card was placed in a horizontal face-down position in the center monster zone, and a much larger copy of the card appeared on the arena floor in the same position. "That's so awesome…"

"Isn't it though?" Tensei drew from his deck and looked down at the set card on the playing field. ("Interesting play on his part, that's for sure. Most players would be nervous because this is a one-shot deal and would play much more cautiously by setting something other than just a monster…unless…") He shook his head and laughed silently at himself. "I'm reading a little bit too much into your opening play. I summon Lantern Dragon."

A bright light erupted from his section of the arena and formed into a white-scaled dragon with yellow light coming from the center of its chest. Up above the head of the bus-sized monster a holographic board with its attack and defense appeared. (1200/1000)

"That thing's huge!" When looking straight ahead Kagaiya was only able to see the monster's chest, and it was terrifying. "Plus it's got such high attack points!"

("High attack points…") Tensei smiled at how funny that statement sounded considering that Lantern Dragon was one of his deck's weaker monsters. ("You've got a bit to learn if 1200 is high to you.")

His hand came up slowly to point across the field at the monster set under Kagaiya's control. "Lantern Dragon's special ability is that once per turn it may reveal a set card on your field!" Spreading its wings, the creature snorted derisively and the glowing center of its chest started to become brighter. That light got stronger and stronger until it was almost blinding in intensity.

As the light finally died down, Kagaiya tried to rub the spots out of his eyes. By the time he had regained his vision he could see that something was wrong with his field. On the arena floor where his set card had been there was now a crouched pink-skinned winged demon with its spindly arms and wings wrapped around its body defensively. (1000/500) "My Ryu-Kishin's been revealed?"

"Of course, there weren't any other set cards on your field after all." Now that he knew the face-down monster wasn't something dangerous, it was safe for Tensei to make his attack. "Lantern Dragon, attack Ryu-Kishin now! Incandescent Breath!" His monster's jaws cracked open and released a burst of blindingly bright white flame that engulfed Kagaiya's monster, burning it to ash. "I end my turn."

"Wow that was incredible!" Heiku looked completely astonished. "He's playing defensively and offensively at the same time! With just one card he figured out whether Kaga's set monster was a threat or not and then destroyed it afterwards!"

"Stop praising him!" Kagaiya shouted over the railing of the booth. "This duel just started!" Snapping his attention back to the game, he grabbed a card from his deck. "It's my turn!" Looking at the cards in his hand, his momentary anger faded as he realized he was already in a bind. ("There's no monster in my hand I can summon. What do I do now?")

"Hmm?" Tensei noticed that Kagaiya wasn't making another move. ("What's the matter? Thinking that hard already? Come now, my monster is wide open so take the opening…")

("Wait a second…") Though he had been about to give up hope, Kagaiya saw his chance to win. "I set two cards face-down in my magic and trap zone and end my turn." Two vertical set cards appeared on the back-field of the arena floor.

("Two cards, hmm…") Tensei drew and smiled at the card he had drawn. ("I don't know what your face-down cards are, but since you didn't summon or set a monster I wonder if they're just bluffs.") "Lantern Dragon activates its effect now, revealing a card on your field!" One of the two cards flipped up to reveal the green bordering of a magic card.

"What's that?" Heiku could see the card, but he didn't recognize it. ("Is this something Kaga's never used before?")

"Karma Reincarnate?" Disappointed at having wasted his monster's effect on what must have been a bluff, Tensei decided that if the other set card was a trap then so be it. He placed his drawn card next to his Lantern Dragon card. "I summon Feather Dragon in attack mode." Another blast of light came from his field, this one forming into a little baby dragon with a single white-feathered wing coming out of its back. (500/500)

"Just 500?" Kagaiya was definitely caught off-guard by that. He had expected his opponent to bring out something huge and dangerous. Instead it was just a little monster.

"Perhaps alone just 500, but like my other monster this one has a special ability as well." Tensei calmly picked his deck up from its resting place and fanned the stack of cards out in his hand. "When this monster is summoned I may pay 1000 life points to summon two more copies of it from my deck to the field in attack mode. Therefore…" Two more of the baby dragon creatures appeared on his field, screeching loudly and landing under the protective warmth of the Lantern Dragon. (500/500)x2

Kagaiya- 8000

Tensei- 7000

"Now he's got four monsters in play!" Heiku, getting into the game thanks to the realism of the Solid Vision System, pointed up at Tensei. "That's way too unfair, how can you just pay 1000 life points and get two more monsters in play!"

Glancing over the side of his booth, Tensei chuckled and pointed at the three cooing baby dragons. "Feather Dragons can't be sacrificed, so they're just weak little monsters that can't be used to summon higher-level monsters…" His cheerful look grew a little cold as he took a card out of his hand, "Unless you use this." The selected card appeared on his field, a magic card with a picture of an orange and blue swirl, the orange representing a pair of monsters being stretched out into a vortex.

"You're going to use Polymerization on them!" The shouter this time was Kagaiya. He knew very well how Polymerization and Fusion Monsters worked. "You're going to send your three Feather Dragons to the graveyard and summon a fusion, aren't you?"

"Exactly correct," Tensei replied while his three little hatchlings were sucked into the air, pulled through a vortex which appeared in the sky over his field.

"Wait, but you can't sacrifice them!" Heiku smirked confidently and wagged a finger up at Kagaiya's opponent. "Therefore you can't sacrifice them to use Polymerization!"

"Monsters used with Polymerization aren't considered sacrifices…" Kagaiya brought a hand over his eyes while a bright explosion of light and white feathers erupted in the sky, making it seem for just a moment as if he was in the middle of a dream.

"Once again, correct." Tensei's new monster, a three-winged white dragon which looked like a grown-up version of his earlier monsters, lowered into play next to the Lantern Dragon and roared loud enough to shake the simulated ground on the arena floor. "Wing Dragon is fusion summoned!" (2000/1600)

"Another powerful monster…" Kagaiya felt the sweat building up on his forehead. ("This guy is too good for me. I'll never beat him.") His eyes trailed down to the set cards on his field. ("And yet, for some reason I'm not afraid…")

"Wing Dragon, attack his life points directly! Angelic Roar!" Tensei pointed across the arena expanse at Kagaiya. The Wing Dragon answered the order by snapping its jaws open and sending a wave of white rings outwards to strike the booth, though it didn't do anything to Kagaiya directly.

Kagaiya- 6000

Tensei- 7000

"Oh no!" Heiku brought his hands up over his head while the rings created by the dragon caused the ground around him to shake a little. "Kaga, you just lost a fourth of your life in one hit!"

"It's not over yet, unfortunately for you." Tensei pointed at Kagaiya again. "Lantern Dragon…"

"Hang on a second, Tensei!" Kagaiya suddenly looked different, his eyes much brighter with enthusiasm then they had been a second ago. "When you used your Lantern Dragon to look at one of my set cards you found my bluff, but even after declaring what it was you didn't figure it out…that's rather foolish, don't you think?"

"Wha…" Heiku was completely thrown off by this. Kagaiya was talking trash about his opponent in a game of Duel Monsters? The same Kagaiya that couldn't normally remember the basic rules of the game?

Tensei, however, looked surprised for a different reason. ("I had thought they were both bluffs, but for him to say that could only mean…")

"I activate," Kagaiya's hand came out and flipped over the set card that hadn't been revealed by the Lantern Dragon, "my trap card."

Tensei was about to ask what it did, but it seemed the effect was already happening on the arena floor. The ground underneath his Wing Dragon suddenly collapsed into a bowl shape, becoming flowing sand that sucked the magnificent monster out of sight. It let out one last roar of defiance and then a spray of pixels erupted like a geyser from the sand whirlpool as it exploded. "That card…it could only be…"

"That's right," Kagaiya knew that, thanks to the screen right above the player's field, his opponent could see what it was. "It's Sand Whirlpool. When you hit me directly with an attack it activates, and from my hand I can special summon an insect sub-type monster with a lower level and lower attack points than that of the monster which hit me. If I do so, then the monster which dealt me damage is destroyed."

The sandy whirlpool churned in the opposite direction as a huge circular brown worm with a toothed ring for a mouth emerged, slithering over onto Kagaiya's field. "This is my level five Dungeon Worm, stronger than your Lantern Dragon but weaker than your Wing Dragon." (1800/1500)

"No…way…" Heiku couldn't believe it. Kagaiya had set a trap for someone and it had worked.

"Well, what will you do now?" Kagaiya crossed his arms across his chest calmly, that glow still in his eyes. "Will you still attack with your Lantern Dragon?"

"Of course not, that would be foolish since as long as your Dungeon Worm is in play I'd have no choice but to pick it as an attack target." After looking at his hand, Tensei sighed at his own mistake. "I'll switch Lantern Dragon to defense mode and end my turn." His dragon leaned down and folded its wings around itself.

"Then it's time for me to make a comeback, huh?" Kagaiya drew and pointed at the Lantern Dragon. "Here's for earlier, Tensei! Dungeon Worm, attack Lantern Dragon now! Sand Whirlpool!" His monster slammed its head through the ground and disappeared. A few moments later the Lantern Dragon was pulled through the arena floor, and from that hole another spray of pixels erupted. "Since your Lantern Dragon was in defense mode the damage you take from it losing in battle is zero but now your field is clear, so I'll end my turn."

("He's suddenly gotten rather cocky…") Tensei drew from his deck to indicate his turn was starting. ("We'll have to put an end to that.") "I activate another magic card, this one called Re-Fusion. At the cost of 800 life points I can equip it to one Fusion Monster in my graveyard, followed by which that monster returns to the field. My choice should obviously be Wing Dragon." His three-winged monster erupted onto the field in another blast of white light and feathers. (2000/1600)

Kagaiya- 6000

Tensei- 6200

"It's back already!?" Heiku gasped while the revived Wing Dragon opened its jaws and roared in anger at Kagaiya's Dungeon Worm. Apparently it did not like being destroyed very much. "That's too much, for someone to bring such a strong monster back in one turn after it was destroyed…" His sentence died as it was leaving his lips. He had a momentary flashback and when the truth of the matter dawned on him. "Wait, I remember where this guy is from! He's the top-ranked junior duelist in Japan, Tensei Endo!"

"Top-ranked…junior duelist…" Kagaiya looked across the field, not just at the arena. His attention was on his opponent now, not the cards his opponent had played. "That would explain why you are putting up Duel Disks just for a victory…it's because no one can defeat you, right?"

"That's not true at all." Tensei laughed at the mere idea that this was a con. "Actually, the power of this deck isn't the same deck I take to professional tournaments. This is the deck I originally went to local tournaments with. While it is an expertly made deck, it isn't overpowered compared to the level of some of the duelists you might see around here."

"But that…"

"Its fine Heiku," Kagaiya, that odd green glow still in his eyes, reached out and pressed down on the top card of his deck. "If he wants to bring out his deck then let him. Otherwise where's the fun?"

"The fun!?" Heiku couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Do you understand what you're playing against? This guy's deck is filled with powerful cards, how can you expect to win?"

"I can't expect anything." Kagaiya's eyes became distant for a moment, and then he smiled. "That's the fun of it. Now come on, Tensei, show me what you've got!"

"Wing Dragon attacks Dungeon Worm! Angelic Roar!" Tensei's revived dragon flapped up into the air and roared downwards, sending a wave of its white rings to strike the body of the insect creature under Kagaiya's control and blast it to ash.

Kagaiya- 5800

Tensei- 6200

"And with that I end my turn." This was Tensei's zone now. He would not lose control of this duel so quickly and without a vicious exchange. If Kagaiya-san wanted to win that Duel Disk, he was going to have to wrest the field back from the Wing Dragon.

"It's my turn!" Kagaiya drew, but before he could look at the card he heard more voices from nearby. Looking over the side of the booth, he blushed red in the face as he realized a good number of kids older and younger than him had arrived. These were the tournament regulars, who always joined the tournaments and came by at around seven-thirty or so to secure their spots and personal spaces at the tournament tables.

"What's going on?" One of them asked the other, who shrugged in response. Other conversations started to become sparked, leaving Kagaiya to slide back a little to try and hide himself from immediate sight, though that was rather difficult to do since he was in a booth about twenty feet off the ground. ("Oh great, the last thing I wanted was an audience in case I lost.") And as those uncertain thoughts passed through his mind, that green glow slowly faded from his eyes.

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_Quiz: So far we've seen three of the four monster types in this game between Kagaiya and Tensei. What is the single type we've yet to see in action? _


	3. Lights and Darkness

_Duel Rules; Volume 1; Monster summoning_

_While knowing about monsters is good, it is useless information if you don't summon them to your field. Therefore it is useful to know about all the types of summons you can make, because without that ability a duelist won't be able to win._

_Normal Summon- This is the single summon that a player gets per turn without needing to pay any costs or use any effects. A normal summoned card, if it is level five or higher, needs a monster sacrifice or else you cannot do it. If the monster in your hand is level five or six then you need to sacrifice a monster on your field. If it is level seven or higher then two sacrifices are needed. This is the adamant rule of normal summoning._

_Set- This is when instead of placing a monster face-up on your field, you can set it face-down horizontally in a monster zone. This is just like a normal summon in that you need to make sacrifices for higher-level monsters. It is a useful technique because sometimes you want to surprise your opponent with a monster they didn't see coming, or perhaps the defense score of your monster is higher than its attack._

_Special Summon- Unlike a normal summon, you can perform as many special summons you want per turn. Even if you are summoning a high-level monster the number of sacrifices needed is zero for a special summon. The monster summoned can also, unless the card used to bring it out says otherwise, be placed in face-up defense mode. For some monsters, which have effects which only apply while they are face-up, this is a great bonus. Harnessing the power of a special summon can spell the difference between victory and defeat, and can give you control of the field through numbers._

_Flip Summon- A Flip Summon occurs when you take a face-down monster and flip it face-up. This is considered a special summon, as well as flip summon. Its important to make that known, because some trap cards exist that can only be activated when a monster is normal summoned._

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Back to Basics; Beginner Level

Chapter 3: Lights and Darkness

The crowds numbered to somewhere around ten or twenty people now, all of them completely absorbed into the amazingly realistic holograms in the dueling arena. They'd already forgotten to sign up for the tournament, too intent on watching this duel all the way through.

"Wow! This is incredible!" Someone exclaimed from near the back of the crowd. "I wonder what the Favorites are going to say about this."

Up near the front a pair of deep blue eyes observed the duel quietly, the tiniest hints of a smile on the face of their owner. ("Tensei Endo, one of the closest things to a professional duelist and an amazing player. Even after losing his Wing Dragon he returned it just by paying 800 life points. I wonder what his opponent can do to retaliate now.")

Back up on the dueling field the divine form of the Wing Dragon floated patiently just above the black ground of the dueling arena while it waited for its master's next turn.

"What will you do?" Tensei crossed his arms across his chest and a comforted smile crossed his face. "As things are now your big play, Sand Whirlpool, only managed to buy you a single turn. Now things are back under my control, and with Wing Dragon back in play field control is mine again. Now then, hurry and set your defense Kagaiya Tomoshi!"

Kagaiya's earlier nervousness about having so many people watch him duel slowly faded as he brought his attention back to the game. He looked down at his hand quietly, observing what he was holding.

Down below Heiku was biting his fingernails with worry. "At this rate Kagaiya's going to get overwhelmed…"

"You don't need to worry about that!" Kagaiya shouted.

"I would have to argue otherwise." Tensei continued to smile, completely confident in his deck's abilities. "During my next turn I will summon another monster and drain more of your few remaining life points."

"I wasn't talking to Heiku," Kagaiya's blue eyes suddenly were tinged by that green glow from before. "I was talking about you thinking you'd overwhelm me. Don't worry, I won't let that happen." His hand reached down and flipped over the set card in his magic and trap card zone. Down on the dueling arena the hologram of the card flipped up as well, revealing a green-bordered card with a picture of an oriental wheel representing the cycle of life.

"There's that card again." Heiku frowned and tilted his head sideways slightly. "What does it do?"

"Karma Reincarnate," A gentle voice off to his side answered, "Is a magic card that lets a duelist remove a monster from their graveyard. They then pay 300 life points for every level star of that monster to special summon a monster from their hand with the same level as the removed one."

Heiku turned and looked at the shaggy blue-haired boy with eyes of the same deep color who had answered about the card effect. "Could you repeat that a little slower and with less repetition?"

The boy quietly chuckled and brushed some of his hair out of his eyes, his yellow shirt and white shorts contrasting sharply with his natural features. "Just watch, it will all become clear in a moment."

"I remove Dungeon Worm from my graveyard!" Kagaiya picked the top card of his graveyard, the Dungeon Worm card, up and placed it off to the side of playing field. "Dungeon Worm is a level five monster." On the side of his booth the white-numbered life point counter suddenly decreased rapidly to 4300. "Therefore my level five Rude Kaiser comes out!" On his field a green-skinned lizard-human wearing chest armor and blades attached to its forearms appeared on his field in a flash of light. It brought its blood-red eyes to bear on the Wing Dragon and howled in rage. (1800/1500)

"Huh? He managed to bring out a level five monster without sacrifice?" Heiku turned to look at the brightly-dressed guy again. "How?"

"Karma Reincarnate is the reason. By removing his level five monster he could special summon a level five monster from his hand." His eyes still hidden by his mop of hair, the boy nodded his head slowly in agreement with the action. "It was a good play."

"But it won't do him any good!" Heiku, still nervous, snapped a hand up to point at the Wing Dragon. "That thing is too powerful!"

"I also play Mystical Moon." Placing a new card in his magic and trap zone, Kagaiya smirked while his Rude Kaiser was wreathed in a soft yellow glow. "This card increases the equipped beast-warrior monster's attack and defense points by 300!" (2100/1800)

Tensei frowned slightly at the sudden change of situation. "So you knew this was coming…"

"Of course not, where'd be the fun in that?" Kagaiya's hand snapped up to point at the Wing Dragon. "Rude Kaiser, Forearm Slash!" His monster launched across the field and cut the Wing Dragon apart, the pieces of it shattering into pixels and leaving nothing but a few feathers to float to the holographic ground. "Yeah, I won't lose here! End turn!"

Kagaiya- 4300

Tensei- 6100

("So once more you defeated Wing Dragon, this time in battle no less.") Tensei frowned at the cards remaining in his hand. ("I have no monsters in my hand that can beat his powered up Rude Kaiser.") His right hand dropped slowly atop his deck, gently sliding a card free.

At the other side of the arena Kagaiya, his eyes still pulsing lightly with that green tinge, blinked as for just a moment he could have sworn he had seen a soft pulse of white light around Tensei's drawing hand. ("Huh?") The green tinge around his blue eyes dimmed out. He rubbed his eyes with a free hand, and when he looked again he no longer saw that glow.

After looking at his drawn card Tensei held it up above his head. "The power of the light pulses through me! Even in this duel, I feel my dragons crying in frustration. They wish to come forth and crush you, Kagaiya Tomoshi!"

"…What are you talking about?" Kagaiya stared at the junior pro in disbelief. Was he crazy, talking about his dragons like they were real?

"You will find out now!" Tensei picked up the Wing Dragon card from his graveyard and held it up. "The effect of Wing Dragon activates now!"

"What!?" Heiku and Kagaiya both yelled in surprise at the same time.

Down at the side of the arena the blue-haired boy's eyes could be seen now, that intense gaze focused up on Tensei. ("This is the power of a junior pro. If you cannot deal with it then you will not be able to win.")

"When Wing Dragon is in my graveyard I can remove it along with three other light attribute dragon sub-type monsters to special summon a light attribute dragon sub-type from my hand to the field." Tensei picked up the three Feather Dragons in his graveyard and placed them on the side of the playing field along with his Wing Dragon card.

A hole opened up in the sky above the arena and a glistening white-boned form dropped down onto the field with a crash. The monster was like a lizard more than a dragon, wingless and plated with heavy-looking white crafted bone shields. "Ivory Shield Dragon awakens." (2300/2800)

"2300!?" Kagaiya gasped while his Rude Kaiser snarled angrily. "That's…for free!?"

"I can see that you've lost your cool again, such a shame." Tensei placed a new card down onto the field next to his Ivory Shield Dragon card. "I summon Phantom Return Dragon in attack mode." A phantasmal black dragon slowly rose up from the ground to his field, flapping its wings repeatedly while it lifted itself into the air above the Ivory Dragon. (500/1200)

"That isn't all though." Tensei's new dragon spread its wings and froze in the air, a black mist flowing from its body into the ground. "The effect of Phantom Return Dragon is that once per turn I can discard a card from my hand to add one dragon sub-type monster in my removed from play pile to my hand." He placed a card into his graveyard and then held up one of his Feather Dragons, which he added to his hand.

"Now to strike you down once more! Ivory Shield Dragon, Matrix Bolt Burst!" His strongest field monster cranked its jaws open slowly, each click echoing like the sound of a cannon getting placed into firing position. "Fire!" A howling green light erupted from the monster's throat which completely swallowed up the form of Rude Kaiser, not even leaving ashes in its wake.

Kagaiya- 4100

Tensei- 6100

"And now for Phantom Return Dragon! Direct attack!" His smaller dragon froze in midair again and released that black mist, which hovered around Kagaiya's field for a moment before it faded away.

Kagaiya- 3600

Tensei- 6100

"He lost his Rude Kaiser!" Heiku turned to the blue-haired boy in his desperation; as if Kagaiya's potential loss would be his own. "Isn't there something he can bring out that can beat that giant walking bone yard?"

"That depends on if he has the ability to special summon something powerful." The boy rested his chin on the crook of his hand, seeming to be thinking deeply about the situation on the field. "As it stands, this duel is over for him unless in the next turn he can bring out something stronger."

"End turn." Tensei's gaze was cold and intense now, and Kagaiya felt like he was being pushed to the ground by the pressure from that look.

("This is the power of a Junior Pro…") Kagaiya couldn't deny it any longer. He was afraid. Not just of losing, but of being completely obliterated by such a strong opponent. ("This is child's play to him, how can I possibly win!?") That crushing feeling of fear grew stronger, and he felt himself almost literally being forced to the floor of the booth…

Then his hand touched the top of his deck, and he realized that something deep inside of him was bolstering his confidence. It flowed through him like a warming breath of air, and with every passing moment he felt that earlier smug confidence return. ("This duel…I can't lose here! Not after I've already made this much progress against him! Underneath that cold exterior he's sweating just as much as I am.") He drew and for just a moment his right hand gave off a soft green glow as it took the card to him.

("Show me, Kagaiya Tomoshi, if you can still keep up with the power of my assault.") Tensei was curious to see if this boy could continue these amazing plays. ("His deck is only mediocre at best, and yet somehow he had been keeping up with me fairly well. However that ends here, because now that my higher level dragons are in play you are completely outgunned!")

"I set three cards face-down!" Kagaiya's hand snapped out, placing three of his four remaining hand cards face-down in his magic and trap zone in one sweep. "And then I flip up one of them, Pressured Activation!" The card he flipped over was a magic card, showing a picture of a man holding a glowing sword and being pressed into a corner by a horde of enemies. "At the cost of half my life points I declare the name of one normal magic card. If that card is in your hand it activates and then returns to your hand." His life point counter ticked down to 1800.

"Interesting gamble…" The blue-haired boy smiled amusedly. ("I wonder what card you will declare. In fact, I can only think of one card that you might be able to take advantage from. However, I do not claim to know the cards of the deck being used by Tensei Endo. It's up to you to determine what card can bring about your survival.")

"So, what card are you so certain I'm holding that you'd risk half your life points?" Tensei slid a finger along the top of one of his cards slowly…

"I'm certain of it, since you're so quick to announce the type of deck you run. If there was a single card that could save me, it would have to be Card of Sanctity!" There was an iron determination in Kagaiya's voice now. Even if he made a complete fool of himself, he wasn't going to give up here.

Tensei's finger had stopped its lazy wandering along the thin top of his hand cards, and he narrowed his eyes slightly. "What makes you think I am holding such a card?"

"Because I know about Card of Sanctity's effect from Kashi-sensei, and with it both players draw until they are holding six cards in their hand. You just used the effect of your Phantom Return Dragon to return a Feather Dragon, so you wouldn't use it until the next turn when you summon that Feather Dragon." Kagaiya had no idea what he was talking about, but he didn't drop his appearance of being knowledgeable in the game. ("I'll keep pushing, and won't back out of this at all! I don't even care about winning now; I just want to take this duel as far as it can go.")

"Heh, interesting theory…" Tensei held up the Card of Sanctity his finger had been lingering on earlier. "Very well, let's draw." Placing the card face-up in a magic and trap zone, he triggered an effect which caused the sky above the playing field to be illuminated by rays of bright sunlight.

Kagaiya pulled five cards off of his deck while Tensei removed four and then picked his Card of Sanctity back up to place in his grasp. "And now for my counterattack!" One of the two remaining cards set on Kagaiya's field flipped up and from within it came a spray of white chains that wrapped around the Ivory Shield Dragon and sent it crashing to the ground in a twisted and helpless heap. "Chain Lock is a magic card that equips to a monster and prevents it from switching modes."

"Huh, why'd he waste it on that Ivory Dragon?" Heiku looked up at the field and couldn't figure out the reason.

"Ivory Shield Dragon, when attacked, can switch to defense mode. If he hadn't then the Ivory Shield Dragon would become an immovable wall when he attacked." His amused smile still bright, the blue-haired boy tilted his head up to look directly at Kagaiya. ("You are definitely interesting, my young friend.")

("How did I know about that thing's effect?") Even as he pondered this question, Kagaiya felt his body nearly moving of its own accord. After all, his strongest monster was on its way out now. "I flip up the last set card I've got, a card I'm sure you're familiar with!" A familiar picture of two orange silhouettes being sucked into a swirling vortex of blue was revealed from the last card on his field. "Polymerization!"

Tensei pursed his lips in frustration at the sight of that card. ("He found a way around the field advantage I had gained.")

"From my hand the monster cards Curse of Dragon and Gaia the Fierce Knight fuse!" Placing the two named cards in his hand into his graveyard, the look on the young boy's face was a mixture of excitement and tension. "Come out now, Gaia the Dragon Champion!" A swirling vortex appeared above his field and from within it shot out a blue and red armored knight riding atop a yellow and red skeletal dragon. (2600/2100)

"2600 attack points, hm?" Tensei looked even less pleased than before.

"That's right; this is my strongest card, Gaia the Dragon Champion!" Kagaiya nearly gave the order to attack, but stopped himself as he realized there was one other trick he had yet to use. "And while I'm at it, let me introduce you to one of my three special forces!"

"Special forces?" Tensei was about to ask what that meant when all of a sudden a blue-robed demon with gold bracers appeared on Kagaiya's field in the zone next to the Dragon Champion. "Chaos Necromancer?"

"I see you're familiar with it then, good." Kagaiya grinned enthusiastically while his demon monster started to glow with a purple aura. (0/0) "For every monster in my graveyard this guy gains 300 attack points! I've got four in here, so that equals 1200!" (1200/0) "Chaos Necromancer attacks now! Necro Puppet Show!" The demon began cackling, four green balls of fire coming to life around it. Lifting up one hand, it motioned towards the Phantom Return Dragon and the black-scaled creature was bombarded by green fire, burned to a crisp instantly.

Kagaiya- 1800

Tensei- 5400

"And now for Gaia the Dragon Champion!" Kagaiya announced his strongest monster's name with as much strength as he could muster, while on the field the dragon-riding knight exploded forward and stabbed its lance into the chest of the trapped Ivory Shield Dragon, causing it to explode into a spray of white pixels.

"The effect of Ivory Shield Dragon activates now!" Tensei placed his high-level monster into the graveyard zone. "When my monster is destroyed and it goes to the graveyard I gain 1000 life points."

Kagaiya- 1800

Tensei- 6100

"His life points didn't change at all," Heiku sighed sadly and hung his head in disappointment. "Just as I thought, even with Kaga's really powerful Dragon Champion in play this duel is hopeless."

"That might not be the case, actually." The blue-haired boy's smile had waned slightly as it sank in just what he had witnessed. ("A miracle comeback from a dangerous situation, and if this other kid's attitude about the duel is any indication then this 'Kaga' might be worth watching. After all, it isn't often I get to see a Miracle Duelist in action.")

Kagaiya placed a single card facedown in a magic and trap zone on his field. "I set one card facedown and end my turn."

"Once again you turn the tables, but I'll be glad to return the favor!" Tensei drew, each of the eight cards in his hand promising destruction. "My first play is Monster Reincarnation." A magic card with a picture of a holy-looking object appeared on his field. "By offering a card from my hand I can return one of my graveyard monsters to my grasp."

("He's recovering his Ivory Shield Dragon?") Kagaiya narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything yet. There was no point in arguing or asking, he was sure he'd be told in a moment what the card was.

"I discard Feather Dragon to add Ivory Shield Dragon to my hand." Holding up his armored monster card for his opponent to see, he added it to his hand and placed another magic card down. "Burial of the Different Dimension is a magic card that lets me send up to three monsters that have been removed from the game to their owner's graveyard. My choice is my Wing Dragon and two Feather Dragons."

"And now you return your monster to play," Kagaiya, even though he might be bad with the rules, didn't have a problem with his memory. He already knew about this combination. In combination with the fact he was 'in the zone' right now, it wasn't hard to instinctively put the pieces of the last couple plays together.

"Correct. I activate Wing Dragon's effect now!" Tensei placed his Feather Dragons and Wing Dragon off to the side again, the lumbering wingless body of his Ivory Shield Dragon appearing on his field in a blast of white wind. (2300/2800)

"As long as Gaia the Dragon Champion is out your Shield Dragon's ability to attack me is sealed, Tensei!" His eyes now fully glowing green, Kagaiya had an intense look on his face that could rival the power of the junior pro's cold vision. 

"What a foolish declaration. And apparently we're on a first name basis now?" Tensei motioned down at his returned dragon, which had its armored plates in front of it protectively. "You strike down my shield and think you can match me in combat? My apologies, but that is beyond stupid!"

A magic card appeared on his field behind the Ivory Shield Dragon and the magnificent white beast was suddenly cracking, as if it was a statue under extreme pressure. "I activate the magic card Yin-Yang Summon. By sending a light monster from my field to the graveyard I can special summon a dark monster from my hand with the same level. A stronger version of your Karma Reincarnate, I suppose you could call it."

"You're sacrificing your Shield Dragon?" Kagaiya couldn't believe it. "Why?"

"Because I'm done guarding against your attacks." Tensei snapped his arm out in a wave motion before him and the sky above the field turned pitch black. "The power of darkness erupts now, Kagaiya Tomoshi! Ebony Sword Dragon is special summoned!" A dark hulking shape crashed down onto the field from the sky. A pair of glowing golden eyes lit up from within its mass and a rumbling growl shook the earth. (2500/2400)

"2500 attack?" Kagaiya looked rather surprised at this. "It's still weaker than Gaia!"

"I summon another denizen of the darkness, Phantom Attack Dragon." A cloud of black mist rose up from around the body of the shadowed Ebony dragon, forming into an angular mini-dragon with a pair of sharp front claws which glistened in the light of the sun. (1600/300) "For every dragon on my field besides this card it gains 200 attack points." (1800/300)

"That doesn't answer the problem my Dragon Champion represents!" Kagaiya was getting upset now. Why was he being ignored by his opponent?

"Ebony Sword Dragon, bring forth the power of the underworld! Crushing Black Burst!" Tensei's shadowed dragon was suddenly visible, revealing an armored body covered by curved spikes which seemed as if they could slash through steel easily. "When Ebony Sword Dragon attacks it gains 400 attack points during the damage step!" (2900/2400) The dragon rushed across the field and ran over Gaia the Dragon Champion in a way which reminded Kagaiya of how a lawnmower runs over a blade of grass.

Kagaiya- 1500

Tensei- 6100

For a few moments Kagaiya was speechless, but then he remembered what he had promised himself. "You just made a mistake, Tensei! When Gaia goes to the graveyard Chaos Necromancer gets a power-up!" The purple glow around his demon grew stronger. (1500/0)

"And why should I care? Phantom Attack Dragon, Dark Decimation!" Tensei's other dragon dove down and grasped the Necromancer in its claws, squeezing once and pin cushioning the opposing monster before its prey exploded.

Kagaiya- 1200

Tensei- 6100

Kagaiya felt his chances rapidly dissolve with the destruction of not only his strongest monster, but one of his three effect monsters. ("I'm running out of options quick.") "It's not over yet, Tensei! My Formless Deck isn't finished fighting back yet!"

"Formless Deck?" This brought a derisive snort from the junior pro, who for some reason had switched the hand he was holding his two remaining cards in. "Trying to cover up a weak deck with such pathetic titles is as close to sickening as you can get!"

"What's with that guy!?" Heiku clenched his fists angrily and glared up at Tensei with disdain. "He's running such a powerful deck and pretending to be so superior to Kagaiya too…he's the pathetic one! He's no better than a schoolyard bully!"

("That isn't all,") The blue-haired boy thought to himself as he observed the sudden change in both Tensei's face and in the way he was acting. ("Ever since those dark attribute dragons came into play he's been acting much more aggressive, as if he's suddenly removed a disguise that none of us could originally detect in response to Kaga's counterattacks.")

All around the two of them whispered comments were exchanged, amazement at the sheer power of a junior pro duelist. After all, against a deck capable of consistently releasing armies of powerful dragons each turn what could a deck made by an unknown duelist do?

All the while Tensei simply let that cold sneer of his say what needed to be said. "Kagaiya, you're good. Very good, in fact. Good enough that I've decided to stop playing mister nice guy. This will be the full cutthroat power of this deck and of me. I do apologize, as to be honest you were never meant to win in the first place. If what you said is true, then your strongest monster was just obliterated. Without it, can you hope to match the power of my monsters? We'll see soon enough, now won't we?"

---------------------------------------

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_Duelist Scenario_

_Two players are dueling and one of them, seeing that he can win the game with his attack, flips the facedown monster on his field face-up. In response the other player activates his facedown card, Trap Hole. This trap destroys a monster in play that has 1000 or more attack points when it is normal summoned. The flipped monster is destroyed._

_Is this scenario following the rules of the game properly?_


	4. The Conclusion of the First Duel

_Duel Rules; Volume 1; Monster statistics_

_All monster cards fall under the four categories of Normal, Effect, Ritual and Fusion. However there are many more characteristics of Monster cards that need to be considered. All of the following are printed on Monster cards:_

_Name: A simple concept. All things need to have a name, otherwise they'd be rather difficult to identify._

_Attribute: This is the small colored circle in the top-right hand corner of the card. This depicts the type of element the monster is best connected to. It can be any of the following six attributes; LIGHT, DARK, EARTH, FIRE, WATER, and WIND._

_Level: As said in the last section, monster level is paramount to determining how many sacrifices (if any) are needed to normal summon or set the monster._

_Sub-type: This is the most diverse number of statistics. It can best be related to a monster's species. The sub-types are: Dragon, Warrior, Fish, Rock, Beast, Beast-Warrior, Winged Beast, Spellcaster, Plant, Thunder, Sea Serpent, Aqua, Fairy, Fiend, Zombie, Dinosaur, Machine, and Insect._

_Attack: This is the offensive power of the monster. It is almost always a multiple of 100, and most situations tend to say that the higher the attack power is the better. _

_Defense: Defense isn't quite as important as attack in most situations, but it is still very useful. There are also many monsters that have higher defense than attack._

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Back to Basics; Beginner Level

Chapter 4: The Conclusion of the First Duel

"It's close to the end; however I'm not quite finished yet." Tensei took one of his remaining two cards and placed it onto a magic and trap zone. The circuits underneath that section of his board lit up and on the field another spray of bright sunlight fell down around them both. "The effect of Card of Sanctity is that we both draw until we are holding six cards, correct?"

Kagaiya silently began to pull cards from his deck…

"Hang on there, I'm not done yet." The other card in Tensei's hand came down in the magic and trap zone next to his Card of Sanctity. "I activate this quickplay magic card in response to my magic card's activation."

"He can't do that!" Heiku felt like he was grasping for an excuse in Kagaiya's place, but it was a losing battle. "You can't use magic cards like that!"

"In a normal situation that is true," The blue-haired boy pointed up at the card which appeared on the field next to Card of Sanctity. It had a picture of some cans of rations and crackers wrapped in shiny plastic. "What symbol do you see just on top of the card's picture, on the right side?"

"It's a little white and black lightning bolt in a circle. Why?" Heiku wasn't following the other guy's point.

"That means the card is a quickplay. It can be activated anytime you could activate a trap card, and you can activate trap cards in response to magic cards."

"…" Heiku huffed in anger but didn't protest anymore out of fear of making himself look dumber.

"Emergency Provisions is the quickplay card I played, and it lets me send magic and trap cards from my field to my graveyard. For every card I gain 1000 life points." The Card of Sanctity on Tensei's field disappeared in a blast of yellow light. "Also, since the effect of Card of Sanctity has already been triggered it still completes, meaning I draw six new cards."

Kagaiya- 1200

Tensei- 7100

Kagaiya drew four cards while Tensei drew six. Then a single face-down card appeared on Tensei's field behind the now-shadowed form of his Ebony Sword Dragon. "I place one card facedown and end my turn. Come now, Kagaiya, show me your best. Show me why you think you can be as good as an accomplished player such as myself."

"This is the end…" Heiku covered his eyes with an arm. "I can't watch…"

"That's fine; you don't have to of course." The blue-haired boy was still smiling. "However, if you do so then you'll miss your friend's miraculous counterattack."

"What are you talking about? This duel is completely over." Heiku could only imagine that right now Kagaiya was feeling helpless.

------------------------------

"_We come to you from the top location in Japan, Tokyo! We are here with the winner of the National Duel Monsters Tournament, Masa Kenja. Mister Kenja, what is your advice to all of your fans in the world of dueling?"_

_Sitting in front of the television, Kagaiya looked absolutely absorbed into this broadcast. He still couldn't afford his own cards yet, and up to this point he was stuck just watching television shows about Duel Monsters in an attempt to learn more about the game._

_On the television was a picture of a smiling black-haired man in glasses and a black business suit. "I just have this to say. When you are a duelist you are competing against others in a contest of determination, as well as strategy. Yes, of course luck is important, but if you aren't capable of seeing your opponent as an equal instead of a superior or inferior then you will no doubt miss that important play which could win you the game. Remember that, all of you aspiring duelists. A champion is determined by their skills and concentration just as much as the rarity of their cards and the strength of their luck." _

--------------------------

"It's my turn." Kagaiya removed a card from his deck and looked down at the two dragons in play. ("This duel…it's not over yet. He is good, but I have one thing that is going to give me an advantage over him. That is the fact I haven't gotten even close to giving up yet.") His eyes were still glowing with that powerful green light.

"From my hand I activate the magic card Fusion Recovery!" A magic card appeared on his field that had a picture of the orange demon in the Polymerization magic card emerging from a copy of Polymerization. "This card lets me add one Polymerization and one monster card that was used in a fusion summon from my graveyard to my hand." He picked up Polymerization and Gaia the Fierce Knight from his graveyard pile, adding them to his hand.

"And now for this magic card, Commencement Dance!" A magic card appeared on his field that had a picture of a dancing girl wearing forearm blades. "This ritual magic card requires that I am not only holding the monster card Performance of Sword but that I am also able to send up to six level stars worth of monsters to my graveyard. I offer the level six Gyakutenno Megami monster card in my hand to pay for the cost of Commencement Dance, and then special summon Performance of Sword to my field!"

("A ritual summon…but for such a weak monster?") Tensei looked rather disappointed as the dancing girl on the Commencement Dance magic card appeared on Kagaiya's field. (1950/1850)

"That's not all." Another magic card, this one of an armored warrior slashing through a wooden dummy twice appeared on his field. "The magic card Double Attack lets me discard a monster from my hand. Afterwards I select a monster on the field that is a lower level than the card I discarded. During my battle phase this turn it can attack twice!" He held up Gaia the Fierce Knight and placed it into his graveyard pile. "Gaia is a level seven and Performance of Sword is level six, therefore during this turn she can attack twice!" His monster prepared to attack, bending at the knees with her blades ready to strike.

"Your Performance of Sword might be strong enough to beat my Phantom Attack Dragon, but it won't touch my Ebony Sword Dragon at all!" Tensei tapped the side of his head chidingly. "Or did you forget that?"

"Now it's my turn to ask you to slow down, Tensei." Kagaiya placed another magic card down and it appeared on his field, revealing a picture of an armored knight with the ghost of an ancient knight standing behind him. "Ancestral Power lets me select a monster in my graveyard. Then I select a monster on my field that is of the same sub-type as the graveyard card. Finally half the printed attack of the graveyard monster is added to the field monster! I select my warrior sub-type Gaia the Dragon Champion!" (3250/1850)

"3250 attack points!?" Heiku stared in amazement at the powered up Performance of Sword. With her in play Kagaiya couldn't lose!

"Performance of Sword, Double Dance of Sword against Phantom Attack Dragon!" Kagaiya's ritual monster flipped forward and landed in front of the phantasmal dragon, twirling on her toes and drawing a series of glowing lines through the monster with her blades. After she finally finished and bowed to their audience, the dragon exploded.

Kagaiya- 1200

Tensei- 5700

"Once more, this time against Ebony Sword Dragon! Double Dance of Sword!" Kagaiya smirked while his monster skipped gracefully over and repeated her performance against the stronger dragon, blowing it apart.

"The effect of Ebony Sword Dragon activates!" Placing the monster into his graveyard pile, Tensei pointed at Kagaiya's life point counter while it started to decrease. "When this monster is destroyed and goes to the graveyard you take 500 points of damage!"

Kagaiya- 700

Tensei- 4950

"That isn't all though," Just as soon as Tensei had announced this unexpected effect; he flipped over the card he had set earlier. "I activate my Time Machine trap card!" A metal chamber lifted out of the ground on his field, the wheel on the door spinning a few times before opening with a loud hiss of released air. From within that darkness emerged the Ebony Sword Dragon, completely unharmed. "When a monster on my field is destroyed as a result of battle and sent to the graveyard I can activate Time Machine to return it to play." (2500/2400)

"And now it goes right back to the graveyard." Kagaiya, his eyes fully green now, placed the only card in his hand that wasn't Polymerization down onto his field. "Share the Pain is a magic card that makes me destroy a monster on my field along with a monster on your field! Since we only have one monster, the choice should be obvious!" The arena floor was suddenly filled with smoke as both Performance of Sword and Ebony Sword Dragon exploded with enough force to shake their surroundings. "End turn."

Kagaiya- 200

Tensei- 4950

"Why would he give up his obviously stronger Performance of Sword to Share the Pain?" Heiku turned to the only guy who could answer that question.

"Ancestral Power destroys the powered-up monster at the end of the turn." The blue-haired boy was frowning though, despite the cleverness of Kaga's play. "Now he has nothing left but Polymerization…while his opponent has five cards in his hand. As much as I want to say that he may win, no miracle will stop Tensei from summoning a monster next turn and ending this duel."

"It's my turn." Tensei drew, but that dark appearance which had been hanging around him like a cloud had faded away. Once more it was the polite boy from before. ("Kagaiya Tomoshi, your power is incredible for you to have destroyed my monsters once more. This duel was proof enough that there are young duelists in this country who are capable of reaching my level of skill.") And yet he already knew the outcome of this duel because deep down inside he could still hear those cries of rage. His dragons were hungry to finish this. "This duel has been an eye-opening experience, which is a truth I cannot disprove."

Kagaiya kept his expression of determination up. He wasn't going to drop his guard this time and lose this feeling which was coursing through him. "This duel is something I never expected to get to the end of. It's been a long journey from beginning to end, and I've cherished each of these turns. However, now is the time to end it."

"I couldn't agree more." Tensei placed a card from his hand onto his field and a gray gate shimmered into existence in the exact point between the clouds above and the ground below on the arena floor. "Kagaiya, here is this deck's ace! I activate the magic card Gates of Chaos at the cost of discarding a card from my hand and removing two level seven or higher dragons from my graveyard; one of them must be a dark attribute and the other must be a light attribute. My choices are obvious, wouldn't you say?"

"Ebony Sword Dragon and Ivory Shield Dragon," Kagaiya answered.

"Exactly, the collision of the darkness and the light is the trigger to awaken this card's power. With it I'll bring my ultimate monster into play, and end this duel in using the full strength this deck can produce." The grey gates had two locks, one white and one black. With a single echoing click they released, and the gates peeled back to reveal this ultimate monster.

It lowered into play from the hole in the sky that the gate had been, its bony gray armor somehow reflecting and at the same time absorbing the light of the risen sun. Its eyes, one white and one black, lit up brightly as it turned its wingless body to face Kagaiya's empty field. "Chaos Knight Dragon has come forth, and with it you lose Kagaiya Tomoshi." (?)

"A question mark?" Kagaiya was caught off-guard by the monster's stats. "What does that mean?"

"It means that the attack and defense of my monster are determined by something, in this case the number of cards which have been removed from the game on my side of the field." He fanned out the six cards which sat outside of the playing field. "That number of cards times 1000 is the attack and defense of my Chaos Knight Dragon." (6000/6000)

"6000…attack…points…" Heiku slowly became white in the face. "This…this isn't possible…"

"I'm afraid it is quite possible, which means that your friend has lost." The boy closed his eyes and smiled sadly. ("Regardless he did very well; to the point that I nearly thought he could actually pull off a win against a junior pro.")

"Here I come, Kagaiya." Tensei lifted one hand up to point at his opponent as if he was passing the judgment of heaven down. "Chaos Knight Dragon, unleash your destructive power! Rain down upon him!" The dragon's small jaws cracked open and it started to charge up a ball of gray light just within reach of its teeth.

"I can't watch…" Heiku bunkered down and covered his head with his hands, preparing for what could only be a powerful explosion.

"Trap card activate," Kagaiya grasped the edge of the card which still remained facedown on his field at the far end of the magic and trap zones.

"It's useless to resist, because my Chaos Knight has a special ability which makes it immune to the effects of traps which target it." Tensei still looked almost like an angelic avenger bringing down justice. "Gray Judgment!" He braced himself for the cannon-like burst of his dragon's attack, and therefore was completely caught off-guard as the building energy in his dragon's jaws faded away.

"My trap doesn't target your monster." Kagaiya was smiling now, the sly smile of someone that had tricked their opponent. "Or haven't you even bothered to take a look at what it is?"

Heiku lifted his head up and looked at the card on Kagaiya's field. "Spirit Visitation? What does it do?"

"It provides a miracle," The blue-haired looked up at the disbelieving look on Tensei's face, and he couldn't stop that amused smile from returning.

"According to the effect of Spirit Visitation all cards in your removed from play pile return to your hand," Kagaiya smugly winked at Tensei. "Well, go ahead and pick up your monsters."

The junior pro duelist did so, placing the Wing Dragon back in his fusion deck and adding the other five to his grasp. "Because I have no more removed from the game cards…the attack and defense of my Chaos Knight Dragon is zero…" (0/0) His superior appearance was gone, and now he felt lost. In just one move he had completely been subdued, even though his strongest monster was in play. "This is…impossible!"

"I beg to differ. Also, if Spirit Visitation returned five or more cards to your hand then I draw two cards from my deck." Kagaiya pulled a pair of cards from his deck and then calmly watched the Chaos Knight Dragon close its jaws as its powerless attack was released.

Down below there was a huge number of cheers that suddenly sprang up, most of them kind of spontaneous and brought on by the complete surprise of Kagaiya's set trap. No one had expected such a sudden and complete comeback from an endgame situation, especially not when the opponent was a junior pro duelist and the comeback was through such an interesting counter.

"I refuse to believe it!" Tensei's calm exterior dissolved, replaced once more by that dark image from before. It was almost like he himself shared the attributes of his Shield and Sword dragons; one light and protective, the other dark and aggressive. "No one runs such a card in their normal deck! You wouldn't want to give your opponent back that many cards!"

"So what are you trying to say?" Kagaiya was the one in control now, his calm composure not going to be broken by the anger being directed at him. This was a duel, not a real fight. "Are you going to accuse me of cheating?"

"Ludicrous, that's what I have to say about such an idea." Tensei couldn't even put his current emotions into words, so he resolved to instead continue this duel. "Since my battle phase is over, let's continue with my second main phase. I activate Polymerization, fusing the three Feather Dragons in my hand together to bring out Wing Dragon!" Once more there was a storm of white feathers as his three-winged fusion dragon lowered down from the sky above to appear next to his Chaos Knight Dragon. (2000/1600)

"Also," Another magic card appeared on his field, this one having a picture of a pair of swords stabbing into the level stars of a monster card. "The magic card Cost Down lets me discard a card from my hand to lower the level of all monsters in my hand by two for this turn."

After announcing the effect of his magic card he held up a different magic card. "This is what I am discarding. It is called Lighter Atmosphere. When this card is discarded from my hand my opponent draws two cards, and in repayment I can lower the levels of all monsters in my hand by two once again. Also, I can send a monster on my field to my graveyard to draw a card." His Wing Dragon howled loudly and then faded away while its card was placed in the graveyard pile.

Kagaiya drew two more times, having a really bad feeling about this. ("This guy…this guy is serious. He's going to prepare for a game-winning play during the next turn.")

"The effect of Wing Dragon activates now." Folding up the fusion dragon card and the three Feather Dragon cards that made it, Tensei placed them off to the side altogether. "By removing it and three other light dragons from my graveyard I can special summon a light dragon from my hand to the field."

The ground next to his Chaos Knight Dragon erupted as the armored body of his Ivory Shield Dragon rose up and roared loudly. (2300/2800) "Also, because I removed four cards the power of my Chaos Knight Dragon becomes something incredible once more!" (4000/4000) His ultimate monster scraped its claws against the ground in anticipation for the soon to be coming moment where it could strike the final blow.

"That isn't all though." Tensei held up a magic card that had a picture of a holy-looking object with a red jewel in its center. "With the power of Monster Reborn I can revive one monster from either player's graveyard. My choice is the Phantom Attack Dragon!" A black mist rose from out of the ground around his field, forming into the massive-clawed dragon from before. (1600/300) "For every dragon in play that's not itself it gains 200 attack points, so I normal summon my level four Ebony Sword Dragon to bolster it!"

A roar erupted from the other side of the Chaos Knight Dragon and the shadowed body of the Ebony Sword Dragon erupted forth in a blast of dirt. (2500/2400) Over to the side of three mightier dragons the Phantom Attack Dragon grew stronger. (2200/300)

Heiku's jaw was hanging down low, and the audience of the duel was silent now. They were too scared of the sudden pressure that Tensei was exerting.

The blue-haired boy was the only one that dared to comment on this. "This is quite a predicament indeed…"

"End turn." Tensei clenched his fists in anger at both himself and at the fact his opponent had managed to survive his ultimate monster's attack. "This time, for sure, I will crush you. There is no miracle which can protect you from my full power, the full power of this deck whose spirit I share! I cannot lose here, not like this!"

"And yet…" Kagaiya drew, and as he did his hand momentarily erupted with a glittering flash of green light that matched the green glow in his eyes, which was brighter than ever. "You just made a major mistake. I'll prove that with this, my favorite card!" He held up the Polymerization he had recovered earlier. "I activate Polymerization, fusing together the M-Warriors #1 and #2 in my hand!" A pair of gold-helmeted warriors, one blue and one purple appeared on his field momentarily before they were sucked into a vortex above the arena.

"Here comes the appearance of my favorite monster, Karbonala Warrior!" From within that vortex a purple-armored warrior holding a shield and sword appeared, lowering to his master's side of the field slowly with weapons at ready. (1500/1200)

The audience was in a silence more stunned than even when Tensei had brought out his army of monsters. What kind of crazy fool move was that?

"Karbonala…Warrior?" Tensei looked just as confused, though that confusion was tinged with anger. "Are you mocking me!? That weakling doesn't even have an effect! How will it defeat my dragons?"

"It will beat your dragons because you made a crucial mistake during your last turn." Kagaiya smiled and placed a card down in his magic and trap zone. "I activate the magic card Double Spell, discarding a magic card from my hand to use one of the magic cards resting in your graveyard!" He placed a card into his graveyard slot and the console in front of him illuminated with pictures of all the magic cards that Tensei had played during the duel.

"What could you possibly use in my graveyard that would help you win this duel with your favorite card?" Tensei felt that darker personality of his rising, and couldn't help but snicker at the mere thought that his monsters were going to lose to such a weak piece of trash.

"My choice is the single card which will make my ultimate combination complete, Burial of the Different Dimension!" Kagaiya snapped his hand up and pointed at Tensei. "Place your three Feather Dragons back into your graveyard, if you'd please!"

"Fine, if you wish to help me so much," Tensei did so coldly, holding an extreme dislike for the serious tone in Kagaiya's voice. ("What is he getting so riled up about? There's no way he could bring about a miracle in this situation.")

"With the number of removed cards down to only one, the power of your Chaos Knight Dragon diminishes!" (1000/1000) Kagaiya held up a magic card and his Karbonala Warrior lifted his hand up to the sky. "I activate the equipment magic card M-Saber, which can only be equipped to a fusion summoned Karbonala Warrior on my field." From the sky above a glowing purple sword dropped down and landed in the warrior's hand, taking the place of his usual blade. "The equipped monster gains 1500 attack and defense points." (3000/2700)

The blue-haired boy shook his head sadly. "I overestimated the power of a junior pro, apparently. For him to go all-out like that when he couldn't attack again was just foolish, and now he will pay for it."

"Karbonala Warrior, attack Chaos King Dragon now!" Kagaiya's fusion monster nodded in understanding and rushed at the grey-armored beast, leaping into the air and chopping it in half with one stroke of its sword.

Kagaiya- 200

Tensei- 2950

"The effect of M-Saber activates now!" Kagaiya pointed at the Ivory Shield Dragon. "The equipped monster can attack all monsters on your field once, and when it does attack they switch to attack mode and stay that way!" Karbonala Warrior slashed through the unable to defend white dragon, causing it to explode violently just like its stronger elder had. "And when Ivory Shield Dragon goes the graveyard you gain 1000 life points."

Kagaiya- 200

Tensei- 3350

"Go Karbonala, attack Phantom Attack Dragon now!" The warrior skidded slightly as he changed directions and slashed through the howling phantasmal dragon, blowing it apart.

Kagaiya- 200

Tensei- 2150

"And with that, I end my turn." The glow in both Kagaiya's eyes and hands had faded during his declaration of continuous attacks. "Tensei, I hope next time you play better. I wanted to face a junior pro's real strength, not this anger-driven duelist I see in front of me. But at the same time, for my first real duel, this was a pretty fulfilling experience. I learned a lot and hope you did too."

"…" His eyes hidden because of how he was hunched over the console slightly, Tensei drew and pointed at the Karbonala Warrior. "Crushing Black Burst." His voice was rather hollow now, a mirror into how empty he felt while his dragon barreled across the field at Kagaiya's monster. (2900/2400)

"Is he surrendering!?" Heiku didn't understand why Tensei would be sacrificing his last remaining monster like this. "Did Kagaiya win!?"

"Kagaiya…huh…" The blue-haired boy smiled while Karbonala Warrior dove through the dragon and slashed it to pieces, causing an explosion which filled the field with smoke. When that smoke cleared, it revealed the truth of the matter.

Kagaiya- 0

Tensei- 2050

"He lost…why?" Heiku thought about it momentarily and then paled. "When Ebony Sword Dragon is destroyed the opponent takes 500 points of damage…" Twitching a couple of times, he collapsed to his knees and sighed exhaustedly. "That was too intense…"

The blue-haired boy pushed his hands into his pockets and strolled into the Starshot with that amused smile wider than ever. ("Kagaiya…I'll have to keep my eye on him, that's for sure.")

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_Duel Question: How many different sub-types are there for monsters? What about attributes?_


	5. Wild Inferno

_Duel Rules; Volume 1; Monster combat_

_Having monsters in play is important towards winning a duel, but without battling you won't be pulling very many wins out of your hat. So here's a basic overview of how monster battle works. As discussed earlier, all monsters have attack and defense. Also, monsters can only be in one of two modes._

_Attack mode: Monsters in attack mode are the only ones which can attack. When this mode of monster battles with an opponent's monster that is stronger you deal the difference in damage to your life points. The same applies to your opponent if your monster is stronger. Also, the weaker monster is destroyed after damage is dealt to the controller of the weaker monster._

_Defense mode: A monster in defense mode cannot attack normally, so it will only be on the receiving end of combat. When it does battle, if the opponent's monster has a lower attack than its defense, the difference is dealt in damage to your opponent's life points. However, unlike if your monster was in attack mode, the opponent's monster is not destroyed if it is weaker. The advantage you get from having a monster in defense mode though is that if your monster is weaker than your opponent's the damage you take from its defeat is zero._

_In the game there exist some monsters which possess an ability called Piercing. This ability allows them to deal damage to you even if they attack one of your defense mode monsters. There also exist some monsters which can attack while in defense mode. In fact, there are even monsters that while in defense mode can destroy weaker monsters which battle with them._

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Back to Basics; Beginner Level

Chapter 5: Wild Inferno

Kagaiya's mother heard the sound of the front door opening and glanced at the clock curiously. ("It's only ten o'clock.") No one was supposed to be home by now. "Is that you Kagaiya?"

"Yeah, it's me." Sitting in the entry and pulling his shoes off, the exhausted boy pushed them off to the side. Without a single bit of hesitation he started to stumble up the stairs towards his room. ("I feel completely drained…")

"How was the tournament?" His mother threw out, the sound of pots clanging together in the kitchen breaking the otherwise still silence in the house.

"Oh, I'm not really sure. I just went there to check out the store with Heiku, so I didn't stick around for the tournament itself." He didn't feel like disclosing the complete truth. It wouldn't do him any good to tell his mother how he had reacted to the aftermath of his duel with Tensei.

Right after his loss he had expected to receive some kind of angry talking to by the junior pro, but instead Tensei got off the dueling arena and walked away without a word. All he had said was that he was going to return in an hour or so and that he was tired. Apparently the fact he had been shaken up by some no-name duelist really had gotten to him.

When Kagaiya had come down from the platform he was almost instantly mobbed by people, saved only thanks to Heiku leaping in and acting really weird. He'd said stuff like "Why are you asking all these questions to my apprentice? If you've got questions then direct them here to me, Master Heiku!"

Barely making it to the top of the stairs, Kagaiya could only vaguely remember what happened next. He started on his way home almost immediately. To his perceptions it was like he had run a mile during the course of his duel.

Hand reaching out and pushing the door open, he dropped his backpack to the side as soon as he made it through the entryway. Without a thought in his mind he carried himself to the bed, immediately collapsing into the fluffy softness of his sheets. ("I'm taking a nap.") His head tilted sideways slightly and he sleepily looked at his desk, trying to remember what he had been thinking during his sudden deck revision session last night. Nothing was coming to him though; it was all just a big blank.

There was something sitting on his bed. It was a wooden box that seemed to be vaguely familiar to him. ("Where have I seen that before?") Disregarding it as nothing, his eyes closed and he started to drift off to sleep.

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_Out of the very bottom of his vision he could have sworn there had been a faint glitter of light. "Wow, what kind of stuff…" Flipping the top off the box, he held it up to the sunlight and blinked at the single item sitting in the center of the wooden container. It was wrapped in a pink cloth, retaining a fairly rectangular shape. "A…deck?"_

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Kagaiya's mother heard a yell of surprise and a loud thud, which from experience she knew to be the sound of her son's head hitting the ground when he rolls off his bed too quickly. "Are you alright, honey?"

"Why's that thing here!?" Was the reply that came from upstairs.

"What thing?"

"That box! It followed me!" Kagaiya came rushing down the stairs so fast he nearly tripped over himself and crashed.

"Oh, you mean that deck of cards?" His mother laughed at how strange her son was acting. "I checked the shed this morning and saw that someone had been playing around with it, and since your father had said he hadn't been out to the shed since a week ago I could only assume that you were the culprit. Well since you like cards so much I thought I'd get those olds things off my hands and give that deck to you."

"Those are the wrong kind of cards, mom!" He barked before rushing back up the stairs with intent to take the creepy deck of cards back to Rusty right now.

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His door flew open, but even as he rushed in it felt like time was slowing down for him. That same feeling of eerie nostalgia fell over everything, almost choking the life out of him with its thickness. ("Am I the only one that feels like that deck is pure evil!?") Even though the heavy air around him was oppressing, he didn't let it stop him. His hand came to a rest on the polished wood of the box…

And suddenly that pressure was gone. It was as if nothing was wrong. "Maybe it is all in my head." Pulling the top off the box, he frowned down at the wrapped deck suspiciously. "Well come on, do something creepy already."

The box didn't answer.

"I guess that was a pretty stupid thing to expect." Picking it up he unfolded it from its cloth wrapping and shuffled it a couple of times while bracing himself to experience that clouded horrible experience from before. Nothing happened though, and now he had a much better look at the cards. They definitely resembled Tarot Cards.

Placing the deck down on his desk, he pulled a trio of cards free and held them up like he would cards from a Duel Monsters deck. "These are pretty odd names for Tarot cards…" The first had a faded image of some kind of armored human holding a large shield in front of himself with the title "THE STERN SHIELD" underneath the picture. Next to it was a card with a picture of a walking fire in the shape of a human with the title "THE WILD INFERNO" under it.

Past those two was a card too faded to make out what its name or picture was. The only thing he could discern that there was a whole lot of green along the picture's edges.

After looking at the cards for a few more moments he sighed in defeat. ("I'm not going to get any sleep at all while this deck is here. I might as well take a walk.") Images of him asleep in bed and waking up to find the box next to him flashed in his mind. "And you're coming with me." Shoving the three cards into his pocket, he wrapped the rest of the deck up and put it away into his backpack.

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Kagaiya didn't really have anywhere specific he wanted to go, so after telling his mother he'd be back for dinner the boy had headed off in the direction of the older buildings that had at one point been stores, shopping malls, and things like that. As he walked past the derelicts a sigh leaked from his lips at the faded childhood memories which were coming back to him.

One particular place he definitely had to stop in front of was the old elementary school he had gone to for his first couple of years before it closed down. Standing outside of the front doors, he remembered the first time he had met Heiku and Rose. Those two would always argue, though Rose didn't tend to speak very loudly. And somehow, Kagaiya would always wind up getting pulled into their arguments even if he had nothing to do with it.

"It's been a long time since I came here on my own…" Kagaiya hadn't been to this old place for a very long while, ever since he and Heiku had started going to junior high school. As always the front doors were locked tight, but he had his own secret shortcut through the gym.

Heading around to the back, he paced around the giant shape of the gymnasium until he reached the metal door which had been lodged open by a piece of wood crammed into it. "Ah, there's nothing quite like a good doorstop." Pushing the door open he headed in and was immediately assaulted by that bizarre smelling mix of sweat and dust. "Now then…"

He already knew exactly how the pitch black and wide-spaced room looked, but it was nice to have lights. After propping the door open to let some sunlight in he picked up the old electric lantern that he had taken out of Rusty awhile ago just to leave here. Clicking it on, he wandered around the room and let the dim light from the lantern illuminate the walls of the room until he hit the corners. "So many memories, so little…"

Off to his side he heard a faint mewing noise coming from underneath an old mat that had fallen off its position on the wall. "Hmmm, what's that?" Bracing himself, he put his knees into it and managed to lift up the unwieldy mat without too much trouble. Something brown and white dashed out from between his legs, stopping there momentarily before it launched into his chest and sent him flying to the ground, the mat dropping and causing a huge puff of dust to get sprayed across the room. "Ooof!"

Kagaiya almost panicked, until he heard a loud mix of cheerful purring and mews from his attacker. Opening his eyes he blinked a couple of times at the little brown and white kitten which was the culprit. "Well hello there, I guess you must have been playing around here when that thing fell on you, huh?" The kitten replied by rubbing its head against his face in a wordless thank you. "You're welcome."

Sitting up, he held up the little animal by the sides and grinned. "A guy huh? Considering how quick you were to say thank you I'll call you Yasa for now. You don't have a collar, so I guess you must be a stray then?"

Yasa responded by squirming around in his arms in an attempt to escape. Apparently he didn't like being held up like that.

"Sorry about that." Placing the kitten into his lap, he grunted as he was bowled over again by Yasa leaping into his arms. "…Right back into my arms, huh? Yup, I definitely chose the right name for you."

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_A few minutes later…_

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Standing up and brushing his pant legs off, Kagaiya sighed as if on cue Yasa leapt into his free arms again. "Jeez, I'm not going to shake you, am I? Oh well, let's go then. Maybe Mom will let me keep you." He turned and walked over to the front door. "Out we..."

His words were cut off by the roar of the bonfire which suddenly erupted in the middle of the gym. It reached up towards the ceiling for a moment, and then condensed into a much smaller shape.

"Huh?" Down in his arms Kagaiya could hear Yasa growling low in the direction of the flames. "What's the matter? It's not that big, though I'm kind of wondering how it suddenly sprang up like that."

"Burning…I wish…to see it…more burning…" The bonfire rasped out while a pair of legs and arms emerged from it. Following these was a head, the now vaguely humanoid mass of fire standing up and bringing a pair of white-molten dots that could only be eyes to bear on the only two living things in the room. "You will…burn…"

"...Right, gotta go." Kagaiya turned casually and was about to make a dash for the door.

"You…will…burn!" The walking flame lifted up one three-fingered arm and from that limb came a jet of its body which engulfed the wood around the doorway, instantly frying the piece of wood which kept it lodged open, causing it to swing shut. Meanwhile that fire also exploded outwards, spreading quickly and turning the area around the door into a mix of smoke and flaming ash.

Stumbling back with the still-hissing Yasa under his arm, Kagaiya realized that exit wasn't going to work. Turning to face the creature, he grimaced and tried not to show the fact he was scared. "What do you want!? And while we're at it, how about telling me who you are?"

"Burn…" The thing lifted its hand up and another jet of fire launched forth from its fingertips.

Going into a leaping roll, Kagaiya hurled himself back-first across the room and slid the whole way before the wall stopped him rather painfully. Though it had hurt, he had managed to avoid getting Yasa injured and had also dodged the fire which was now burning the section of wall which had been behind him. ("I've seen this thing somewhere before, but…")

His hand came to rest upon something flat and stiff. Picking it up, his eyes came upon one of the cards he had taken off the top of that deck. "The Stern Shield…and what was the other one? The Wild something?" Standing up, he did his best not to panic as the molten-white eyes of the thing turned to look at him. "Wait, you were on the picture of that card! I knew that deck was evil, I knew it!"

"Burn!" The creature brought its hand up and threw another blast of fire, which rolled along the ground like a bowling ball as it approached its target rapidly.

Kagaiya, though surprised, wasn't one to freeze with fear in a scary situation. Hurling himself out of the way of the rolling fireball, he felt a flash of heat warm his face momentarily while he kept Yasa safe in his arms. "How about you quit it with the fireworks show!?"

"I will…see you…burn!" The thing hurled another rolling fireball, which launched itself at Kagaiya with terrifying accuracy.

("I can't dodge it in time!") Kicking the ground with his sneakers, Kagaiya turned himself around rapidly and prepared to block the blast with his back, but it turned out he didn't have to as his view of rapidly approaching flaming death was suddenly cut off by a shadowed flat barrier. From both sides of it came jets of fire which traveled across the ground for a few moments before extinguishing themselves.

A loud hiss of surprise came from the no-longer visible creature's location past the barrier. "You are…one of them!"

"One of whom?" Though it was Kagaiya speaking, the voice saying those words was far deeper and baritone than the boy's. ("Huh, I've got a frog in my throat or something…") Bringing a hand up to rub his neck, Kagaiya's stopped as he realized that in place of where there should have been flesh and bone was instead a metal gauntlet. "I've got to be imagining this."

"I will burn you!" The creature made a steam-like hiss and the sound of flames could be heard on the other side of the barrier. Those sounds got louder until they reached the other side of the barrier and then immediately were stifled.

"Wow," Reaching out, Kagaiya grabbed what he could only discern was a handle on the back of the barrier and stood up. The tower shield that had been dug into the wood of the gym came free easily, letting him swing it to the side. "I'm not quite sure what is going on, but I guess your arsenic tendencies aren't meant for me!"

"Then we'll…settle this…in the other realm of battle…" The creature punched the ground and all around the two of them line of fire started appearing in the ground, forming into a grid. "Summon your deck…"

"My deck? You mean a duel?" And just when he thought the situation couldn't get any weirder too. "If I win you'll leave us alone, Torchface?"

"Agreed…but if I win…you will burn…" The creature created a fireball in its grasp, and that ball dissipated to reveal a deck of Duel Monsters cards in its hand. "Agreed?"

Kagaiya would have answered but he was too busy trying to find his pockets. The problem was that his entire body was covered in a weird seamless steel armor. ("Not a pocket in sight…how am I supposed to get my deck!?") As if responding to his wishes, his shield released a burst of green light and a deck of Duel Monsters cards appeared in front of him. "Cool! Instant deck!" Grabbing the stack, he frowned down at the grid of fire. "This is our playing field?"

"Exactly." The creature dropped its deck and the cards exploded into flames. In the right corner of its grid a huge copy of the deck formed out of gathering flames. "Place your deck and let this duel begin…"

Dropping his deck in an exact copy of the way the creature did it, Kagaiya gasped as his deck copied the other one and exploded into flames. It reformed a few seconds later in giant form on the far right corner of his side of the field. "Hold on a second." He slammed the shield into the wood at his side and gently placed Yasa behind him, kneeling in front of the unafraid kitten. "Don't leap into my arms, okay?"

The kitten mewed in response and sat on its haunches, looking at him curiously.

"I guess that's the closest I'll get to an answer, huh?" Turning, Kagaiya slammed a metal-covered fist into another. "Let's do it then!"

Up above them sparks and bits of embers formed into a pair of boards above their heads which kept track of their life points.

Wild Inferno- 8000

Kagaiya- 8000

The creature lifted an arm and from its deck six cards slid free and floated over so their faces were aimed in its direction. "I begin with a facedown monster and one card facedown. End turn." One of its cards disappeared momentarily, reappearing facedown in its center monster zone horizontally. Another card disappeared and reappeared vertically and facedown behind the monster card.

("Aren't we supposed to determine who goes first? And what's with that cold tone?") Kagaiya had a ton of comments he wanted to offer this thing, but it quickly sank in that this wasn't the time or the place. ("Fine, I'll beat you just as quick as you seem to wish it!") "Draw!" Six cards left the top of his deck and floated to in front of him.

After carefully looking over each card over he pointed at one particular card which shimmered into place on his field in a horizontal position. "I'll set a monster facedown and end my turn. Come on hothead; show me what you've got!"

"You…will now burn." A card floated free from the creature's deck and joined the others in front of it. "I flip summon Flame Dancer." The facedown monster card on its field flipped itself face-up vertically revealing a picture of an ugly metallic spider-like thing with a flaming rope in its grasp. A similar creature appeared atop the card as it landed on the ground. (550/450)

"Also," Another card appeared on its field, the monster forming from it a brown-dressed fairy holding a small candle. "I summon Raging Flame Sprite in attack mode." (100/200)

Kagaiya lifted a hand up and motioned with his fingers for the creature to come and get it. "Come on; let's see if your monsters can beat mine!"

"I activate the magic card Oxydriver." The flames atop the metal head of the Flame Dancer lit up brighter and hotter. "This magic card selects a level three or lower pyro sub-type monster on my field and special summons as many copies of it from my deck as it can." Two more cards appeared on his field, with that many more Flame Dancers standing atop them. (550/450) x2

The Oxydriver magic card, its picture that of a fan blowing into a bonfire, stayed on the field and started glowing. "For every pyro sub-type monster on my field the attack of all pyro sub-type monsters on my field increases by 200." The Flame Dancers started to glow brighter, as did the candle of the Raging Flame Sprite. (900/200) (1350/450) x3

"Not bad, but you'll still have to attack my facedown monster if you want to get to…" Kagaiya's confidence faded as he watched a card appear on the creature's field. "Another magic card?"

"Delta Attacker…" Two Flame Dancers waltzed over and perched side by side, and the third climbed onto their steel shoulders. "If I have three normal monsters in play with the same names then they may all attack your life points directly! Also, Raging Flame Sprite already possesses this power!"

"What!?" Kagaiya snapped his hand out to his hand instinctively and grabbed the handle of his shield, brining it up in front of him right before the Flame Dancers and Flame Sprite released a roaring combination of fire blasts that were divided in half by his shield. Though he was safe, his side of the gymnasium was now a roiling inferno.

Wild Inferno- 8000

Kagaiya- 3050

"At the end of my turn I activate my facedown card." The set card on the creature's field flipped up. "This is the continuous trap card Backfire. When a pyro sub-type monster on my field is destroyed you take 500 points of damage. Also, at the end phase of the turn that Oxydriver activates my monsters all destroy themselves!" The four flaming monsters snuffed out one by one, like the wicks of candles being pinched. And for each one that disappeared a ball of fire shot from the Backfire card, forcing Kagaiya's shielded body back farther and farther with each blocked hit.

Wild Inferno- 8000

Kagaiya- 1050

("That's too much, so much damage in one turn…") Kagaiya felt his legs shaking from the impact of those blows, and even though before that shield had felt nearly weightless now he was having trouble picking it up. "It's my turn, draw…" A card left the top of his deck and flipped it itself up for him to see. "I activate Graceful Charity." The card that had left his deck flipped itself over to show a magic card with a picture of an angel holding a single glowing card which floated above her palms. "I draw three cards and then discard two."

In a normal situation he would be astonished at such a cool card, but right now he was so tired that he just wanted to take this chance and finish the duel now. The three drawn cards appeared alongside the other five he had, but just by looking at them he could tell that he was screwed. ("Why are there so many high defense monsters in this deck? Argh, they've got no attack power at all!") "I discard…" A tingle ran up his spine, as if his body was reacting on its own to something. ("Something is trying to tell me which cards to discard?")

"I choose these two." The two cards selected dissolved and reappeared in the graveyard zone on his field. "I set a monster face-down and two cards facedown in my magic and trap zone. End turn." On his field a facedown monster and two facedown magic and trap cards appeared, while three of his remaining hand cards vanished.

"It's my turn!" The creature motioned to its deck and another card slid free. "I activate the magic card Bonfire." The card which flipped over had a picture of a fire in a metal sconce. "This card lets me add a level four or lower pyro sub-type monster from my deck to my hand. My choice is Hinotama Soul, and then I summon it!" A card left its deck and landed on its field, forming into a ball of fire with a mouth of sharp teeth and a leering face. (600/500)

("600 attack points, huh?") At least Kagaiya wasn't going to get hit again by those monsters. They didn't have enough attack points to beat his set monsters.

"I activate Oxydriver." One of the two remaining cards floating in front the creature flipped over and its Hinotama Soul suddenly split into three. "For every pyro sub-type monster on my field all pyro sub-types gain 200 attack points." (1200/500) x3

"Heh, still not enough Torchface! My monster's defense points are way too high for your little fireballs!" Kagaiya knew he was completely safe against this guy's attack that was for sure. "Bring it on!"

"My other card…Delta Attacker!" The creature's three monsters pulled back together and became a giant ball of roaring flame. "During this turn they can attack directly! Hinotama Souls, attack his life points directly!" The three fireballs roared forwards right past Kagaiya's two defenses.

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_Duel Scenario: You have three monsters in defense mode and one in attack mode. Two of them have 500 defense points, the third has 2000 defense, and your single attack mode monster has 200 attack points._

_Your opponent has three attack mode monsters. One has 1900 and piercing. The other two have 600 attack points apiece. What combination of attacks can you use to inflict the most damage onto your opponent?_


	6. Meeting Miditsu

_Duel Rules; Volume 1; Effect Monsters Expanded_

_We've already covered effects of monster cards, but let's expand upon a couple of things concerning them._

_1) Flip effects- Flip effects are easily distinguished because at the beginning of the card's effect text it will say just that, FLIP: (Effect text goes here). A monster that is facedown has its flip effect activated when it is flipped face-up either by battle, manually, or by the effect of a card. This effect must activate, though some of them are worded so that the actual effect is optional. Even in these cases though, you must trigger the effect even if you intend to do nothing with it._

_2) Continuous effects- These abilities are normally categorized by "When this card is face-up in play" in the text. It simply means that this effect is always in play, and cannot have cards activated in response to itself._

_3) Trigger Effect- These abilities have conditions to them, such as "When this monster deals your opponent life point damage" or "When this monster is destroyed as a result of battle." These are just to inform you of what time is the right time for you to use them._

_4) Ignition Effect- This effect can be activated anytime during your main phase. Many of them come with a cost such as discarding a card from your hand or sacrificing the monster with it._

_5) Multi-Trigger Effects- These are much rarer, but all the more powerful than most abilities. Multi-Trigger Effects can be activated even during your opponent's turn, as long as the requirement listed in the text is met._

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Back to Basics; Beginner Level

Chapter 6: Meeting Miditsu

"_Heh, still not enough Torchface! My monster's defense points are way too high for your little fireballs!" Kagaiya knew he was completely safe against this guy's attack that was for sure. "Bring it on!"_

"_My other card…Delta Attacker!" The creature's three monsters pulled back together and became a giant ball of roaring flame. "During this turn they can attack directly! Hinotama Souls, attack his life points directly!" The three fireballs roared forwards right past Kagaiya's two defenses._

"I open my facedown trap card!" Though Kagaiya hadn't expected the same attack combination just one turn later, he wasn't completely defenseless against it. One of his two set cards that weren't monsters flipped up, revealing a picture of a man in knight's armor standing between a bolt of lightning and a man in royal robes. "Martyr Guard activates in response to your direct attack! First I reveal all facedown monster cards on my field!"

The first of his monsters to reveal itself was a giant monolith made of stone in the shape of a head which towered over its section of his field. "The Statue of Easter Island!" (1100/1400)

The other was a man dressed in a simple tunic with a heavy metal shield in front of him. "Big Shield Gardna!" (100/2600) "And now, instead of taking your attacks directly during this turn, I redirect them to defense mode monsters on my field!" The big fireball split into three again and one of them crashed into Big Shield Gardna, the man grunting in pain as smoke and ash came from his body. "However, it's not a normal attack. Instead I simply reduce the defense of one of my monsters by the attack of your monster. During this turn if the defense of a monster on my field becomes zero it is destroyed!" (100/1400)

Another of the fireballs tried to rush at Kagaiya and was intercepted by the Statue of Easter Island, cracks appearing along the rock's surface as it was superheated by the living fire monster's strike. (1100/200)

The final Hinotama Soul tried to reach him by circling around, but found the Big Shield Gardna in its way. Even though smoke was rising from the body of the warrior, he and his shield held strong to stop the attack. (100/200)

"Then I'll end my turn!" The creature's three Hinotama Souls started to fill up like balloons. "The power of Oxydriver will destroy them and with my Backfire combo you will take 500 points of damage per destroyed monster!"

"Not this turn I won't!" Kagaiya pointed at his other set card and it flipped up to reveal a trap with a picture of a man hiding behind a boulder to avoid a rain of arrows headed his way. "By sacrificing a rock sub-type monster to my Boulder Blocker trap card I can reduce all effect and battle damage to me to zero during this turn!" His Statue of Easter Island exploded and the bits of rock it created punctured the Hinotama Souls, causing them to burst harmlessly.

A deadly silence held over the battlefield, only faded slightly by the crackle and roar of the fires around them. And then Kagaiya heard it…a faint humming coming from his right hand. ("What's that?") Lifting the back of his right hand up so he could see it, he noticed something he must have missed before. There was a pair of weird green circles, one inside another, on his hand with an odd glyph written in between them, except it was starting to fade away. ("What's that mean? Oh well, I'll worry about that after I win this duel.")

He motioned to his deck and a card floated up from it to join the other three in front of him. "Here goes nothing! Draw!" His eyes widened at the card he had drawn. ("No wonder I discarded those other two cards last turn…this card…") He grinned at the creature. "It was nice knowing you, jerk!" From above him he heard the sound of wood starting to give way. ("I've got to finish this now!")

One of the other three cards in his 'hand' flipped over to reveal a magic card with a picture of numerous men working on laying bricks in place for a very tall wall. "Foundation Workers allows me to special summon a monster with zero attack from my graveyard to the field in attack mode! My choice is the Millennium Shield I discarded earlier!" A red and yellow metal shield appeared on his field, hovering in the air quietly. (0/3000)

Another magic card, this one with the same picture, appeared on his field next. "I activate another Foundation Workers and special summon the Cocoon of Evolution in my graveyard!" A pulsating giant insect cocoon appeared on his field and squirmed a little bit, the larva inside very annoyed apparently. (0/2000)

"I summon another Statue of Easter Island in attack mode!" One of the two remaining cards in his 'hand' flipped over and a new statue head appeared on his field, its stone lips and mouth moving with a grinding screech. (1100/1400)

"Summoning an army of monsters will not save you if they have no attack power!" The creature's voice, that smoldering growl, grew louder in anger. "I will burn you alive!"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but the last card in my hand says that you lose this duel!" Kagaiya pointed at the single remaining card in his hand and it flipped over to reveal a picture of a rusted suit of armor holding a sword and shield. There were arrows curving around the picture and reaching towards the point of origin for the other, a circle around the sword and shield respectively. "Shield and Sword is a magic card that, for one turn, switches the original attack and defense of all monsters on my field around! In other words, my army of protection becomes an army of attack!" (3000/0) (2000/0) (1400/1100) (2600/0)

"And since it's the original defense that gets switched, my weakened Big Shield Gardna doesn't lose a thing! I switch him to attack mode!" The still-sizzling warrior stood up and lifted his shield up like it was a weapon. "Let this duel end now! Cocoon of Evolution, attack his life points directly!"

The creature howled in pain as the organic pod suddenly sprayed a blast of purple goo that nearly extinguished its heat. Up above it the life point board dropped to 6000.

By now the humming had turned into an urgent buzzing. "Millennium Shield, attack his life points directly! Shield Bash!" The floating shield launched forward and hit the creature at full speed, sending it skidding back hard enough to burn a pair of sooty lines in the ground. Up above the life point counter dropped to 3000.

"Statue of Easter Island, direct attack! Rock Spit!" Kagaiya's stone monster opened its mouth and spewed out a spray of pebbles that pummeled the creature, leaving it stumbling in pain. The life point counter diminished once more, this time to 1600.

"And for the finale, attack his life points directly Big Shield Gardna! Big Shield Smash!" Kagaiya's last monster leapt forward and prepared to end it in one hit with that incessant buzzing and the roar of the fire as its background music. With one final metal clang the creature collapsed to its knees while the life point counter diminished to zero.

Wild Inferno- 0

Kagaiya- 1050

"Hah, I beat…" The deep baritone that Kagaiya had almost gotten used to disappeared, and he was rather disoriented as suddenly his taller height perspective changed almost instantly in a burst of dark light. "…you?" From behind him Yasa meowed urgently and rubbed up against his leg. This reminded him he was still a in a burning building with no exit.

The creature hissed in pain and dropped to its knees, smoke rising from the top of its head. "I…lost…" A pained howl escaped its lips and it exploded, sending a spray of flame and scalding air to hurl Kagaiya backwards. He saw stars as his skull slammed onto the wooden floor, and then everything went dark for him.

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The next thing he realized, he was lying on his bed at home. ("I'm alive? Was it all a dream?") In his lap, the ball of purring brown and white fur told him otherwise. "Did you carry me home, Yasa?" He knew it was impossible, hence the joking tone in his voice.

Then it sank in just how strange it was for him to be this relaxed. He remembered all of the events clearly, including Torchface's attacks, the weird armor and shield, and finally the duel. Yet none of it really was all that scary to him. "Maybe I'm in shock?"

"I very much doubt it." The door to his room opened and in walked a blond-haired girl dressed in a green full-length ballroom dress. She strolled right up to him and extended a hand. "I am pleased to meet you, Kagaiya Tomoshi. My name is Miditsu."

"…" Kagaiya fell back into his bed and hugged Yasa to his chest. "Obviously I'm not fully awake yet. I'll try getting up in a couple of hours."

A slim hand reached out and with amazing force pulled him off the bed, his head thumping on the floor once. "I assure you that this is no dream. You remember the Wild Inferno, do you not? After your battle you passed out and I carried you home."

"Even if that explained everything, which it doesn't, how about you tell me this?" Standing up, Kagaiya pointed at the girl angrily. "Who the heck are you and why are dressed like that!?"

"I suppose that would have been your reaction, considering how your mother reacted to my arrival." Miditsu looked away, apparently deep in thought and not looking like she was going to answer his question. "It will be alright though; she said that she would give me some clothing which should fit me properly."

"Answer my question!" He grabbed the collar of her dress and glared at her. "What do you have to do with that evil deck!?"

She narrowed her eyes and grabbed his wrist, turning slightly. In that one motion Kagaiya found himself head over heels, skull hitting the floor. "Do not touch me, please. I have no wish to be manhandled by a dirty commoner, even if he does possess the power of the Mythos."

"Mythos?" Landing on his side and sorely pulling himself to his feet, Kagaiya noticed that green double-circle still on the back of his hand, but now there were three glyphs instead of one. "You mean this thing?"

"That's correct; it is called a Glyph-Gate." Miditsu paced over to his window and then turned to face him, holding up a card that could have only come from that creepy deck. "It is the gateway for a Mythos user to properly access the power of the cards. For example…" She flicked the card over to him.

Catching it, Kagaiya held its face up and frowned at the picture. "The Torchface that tried to toast me alive? He's back in this thing?"

"That's correct," She held up the Stern Shield card. "It's a shame all you have right now is this and that card. Such a weak arsenal will more than likely make things rather difficult for you in the future."

"What are you talking about?" He stood up and looked around for his backpack. "I've got the whole deck in the bag I had with me."

"You did, you mean." She yawned and daintily sat down in his desk chair. "Or haven't you realized that the deck was scattered when you lost consciousness. Most of the Mythos saw their chance to escape and did so, since you were foolish enough not to keep them in the box."

Kagaiya frowned at the arrogant tone she had when talking towards him. "Excuse me, but who exactly are you again? Why should I care what you think?"

"My name is Miditsu, if you have already forgotten, and it is important because I am one of the four Advisor Mythos." She twirled a lock of her hair with a finger and spun around in the chair lazily. "You would be wise to speak kindly to me or else you'll be on your own when it comes to recovering the rest of the Mythos."

"Who said I was going to do something like that? If they want to be free then let them." Kagaiya tossed the Wild Inferno card to the ground, looking absolutely furious at how he was being introduced to this situation. "Listen up; I took the creepy deck with me specifically because I didn't want anything like this happening! If those cards want to go terrorize the world then let them, I don't particularly care what they do!"

"This is rather interesting," She commented while fiddling around with a mechanical pen he normally kept on his desk, clicking it open and closed over and over again. "Is this really a writing instrument?"

"Listen to me when I'm talking!" Stopping himself from repeating what would only wind up with him on the ground, Kagaiya snapped a finger up to point at her angrily. "Now listen here, whatever your name is! I refuse to help you recollect these Mythos things because they're not my problem! Now get out of here before I…"

"Kagaiya!" The door to his room pushed open and his mother walked in, a folded bundle of clothing in her arms. "Don't talk so rudely to the girl that saved your life."

"Exactly right, Kagaiya-kun," Miditsu shot a smug smile the boy's way before looking at his mother. "Are those the clothes you said I could borrow?"

"Of course Miditsu-dear." Kagaiya's mother placed the bundle down on the floor and turned to glare at her son. "What were you doing out at that old elementary school anyway? Trying to give me a heart attack when Miditsu showed up and said she had found you there when it was on fire!?"

"No…of course not mom…" Kagaiya walked over to his bed and sat down, feeling Yasa immediately hop into his empty lap. "I didn't have anything to do with the fire, and when it started I had to save this little guy. I wasn't going to let a living creature die like that."

Though she still looked skeptical, his mother nodded quietly and started to walk out. "Well its ten o'clock anyway, so it's time for you to go to bed. Come along Miditsu-san, I'll prepare a bed downstairs for you. It's the least I can do for saving the life of my son, after all." Then she walked out, leaving the two of them alone to continue their argument.

However that didn't occur. Instead Miditsu picked up the bundle of clothing and headed out, stopping momentarily at the door to look back at Kagaiya. "You might say you want nothing to do with this, but let me give you a bit of information about the Mythos. The Wild Inferno is nothing compared to some of the others, and close to none of them are going to simply cause no harm whatsoever to this planet." With those words said, she left him to his thoughts in the darkness.

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_The next morning…_

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Kagaiya walked down the stairs as quietly as he could not to wake up his mother or father. Yasa had protested a little when his bed had been disturbed, but the kitten had gone right back to sleep. Now all that Kagaiya had to do was make it out the front door, which was fairly easy since his father kept all of the hinges in perfect working order. ("I hate to sneak out so early in the morning but I need to see this for myself.")

However a familiar someone was waiting for him outside. "Sneaking out of your own house? Interesting habit." Miditsu, dressed in a pair of jeans and an old red t-shirt of Kagaiya's, tapped her sneaker-covered feet against the ground a couple of times and smirked at him. "Well, have anything to say for yourself, naughty boy?"

"Only one," He held up the Wild Inferno and Stern Shield cards. "Show me how these work."

"I thought you didn't care what happened to the world?" Her arrogant smirk was trying its hardest to push him over the edge, to bring the stubborn boy she had met last night back.

However Kagaiya wasn't budging an inch on this one. "Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to stand up to people that would take advantage of others in any form. However I'm not really much of a fighter, and to be honest I don't think even if I tried that I could combat these things with my deck or my physical abilities. Is there a problem with that?"

"You won't be using your physical abilities to fight them, or at least you won't be required to." She smiled slyly and started to walk away. "Come with me, and all will be explained."

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It didn't take them long to reach an old area that, though called a park, was little more than a couple of trees and some normal-sized grass. The two of them were completely alone, with not a person in sight.

"Alright then," Miditsu turned to face him and held up her right hand. "Bring out the Wild Inferno card and press the picture against the Glyph-Gate."

Kagaiya pulled the card out of his pocket and did so. A bright flash of light almost immediately blinded him, but when his vision returned he realized something was off. Looking down at his hands, he started running around screaming, "I'm on fire!"

Miditsu sighed while the Wild Inferno ran around in a big circle, leaving a scorched trail of flames in its wake. "Stop running around like an idiot before you leave even more evidence you were here!"

Skidding to a stop, Kagaiya closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them to look down at himself again. Sure enough, it was the body of that creature he had dueled which he saw. "So…I'm the Wild Inferno right now?"

"That's right." Miditsu pointed directly at him. "While you have the Wild Inferno connected to the Glyph-Gate you manifest the very aspects of the Mythos you used."

"So what is the Mythos, exactly?" Dropping into a cross-legged position, Kagaiya rested a flaming chin against a flaming hand. "You keep dropping that name like I should know what you are talking about."

"The Mythos is just what they sound like, myths and legends brought to life. Their very existence is fueled by the imaginations of men and women throughout the ages. If there is a legend or concept that has been immortalized in the annals of time then there is more than likely a Mythos for it. The cards you had were just a scant few, about fifty-two or so, so there are forty-nine to count at the moment running around in this general area. At the moment they are in their raw spirit form, unable to truly interact with the environment until they find something they can either possess or latch onto which can hold them like a container."

"So you're telling me that these cards are just going to run around until they find something they can associate with, at which point they'll materialize and start causing problems?" Kagaiya was listening intently, but he was also finding it rather eerie to hear the raspy voice of the creature which had tried to fry him yesterday asking the questions for him.

"That is generally correct. Except in a few cases, such as with the Advisors." Holding her nose up haughtily, Miditsu took on an air befit of royalty. "In our cases we are meant to locate humans who have connections with the Mythos and recruit them to help bring the rogues under control. It is a great honor to be selected."

"I see…" Kagaiya really hadn't been listening when she had gone off on her little spiel about her own importance. "So if I were to simplify I could say that you're too weak to go after the Mythos on your own so you need me to do the grunt work for you."

"That's actually quite accurate, considering your ignorance on the matter." Though Miditsu sounded impressed, Kagaiya's reply was to fall forward and leave a burning face-mark in the grass. "Something the matter?"

"I was trying to goad you, but apparently you're willing to accept the fact that against the Mythos you're helpless, huh?" Standing up, he perked his 'ears' as he heard a familiar humming noise. "I've got a feeling that has something to do with the Glyph-Gate, I remember it from yesterday."

"That would mean you're running out of time." She spoke matter-of-factly and walked up to him. "As I'm sure you noticed on the Gate, the number of glyphs was more than likely different than it had been when you were the Stern Shield. That is because each one represents about a minute or so that you can retain the form of the Mythos you are using. Once the time is up," The humming had turned into that urgent buzzing again, and in a burst of black light Kagaiya was standing where the Wild Inferno had been. "You're back to being plain old you."

"That's fine; can't I just reuse the card again?" Kagaiya peeled the Wild Inferno card off the back of his hand and then pressed it against the skin again, except nothing happened. "I guess not." Removing the card, he noticed that the number of glyphs in the Gate were zero, though there was a very faint outline of the first one visible. "It's recharging?"

"That's a fairly good way to describe it. Yes. There is a bit of a recharge rate to the Gate, about ten minutes or so. During that time you will be unable to use the Gate's powers, and if you are in the middle of a duel when you revert to normal all cards on your field and in your hand are destroyed, and your deck along with all cards and effects are removed. You then place your own deck into play and draw a number of cards equal to the number you were holding when the shutdown occurred. Though it should go without saying, if you have no cards of your own on hand then you lose the duel." She looked up at the morning sky and sighed. "It's been so long since I've seen the sunrise, or the sunset. I've missed being in the outside world."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Kagaiya had to confirm what he had just heard, because that had caught him off guard. "Are you telling me that to avoid a big penalty in my duels against the Mythos I have to win in about three minutes?"

"Yes, is that a problem?" Miditsu continued to look up at the sky, appreciating the flow of the clouds and the warmth of the rising sun.

"It's a huge problem! I'm not that good of a duelist and my win against the Wild Inferno was thanks to the Stern Shield directing my actions!" He was already panicking, because he remembered what that creature would have done to him had he lost. "There has to be a way to increase the number of glyphs on this thing!" His hand came up and he pointed to the one glyph on the Gate for emphasis.

"There is, but it would require you spending long amounts of time meditating to improve your magical energies. However, for the time being you are far too unprepared for that level of concentration, so you'll just have to make do with what you've got." She turned and started heading back towards his house. "I wonder if your mother has made breakfast yet."

"Are you just ignoring the huge handicap I've got on me? Aren't you supposed to be my advisor?" He rushed after her with his hands flailing. "Come on, there has to be some kind of secret dangerous method to making the number of glyphs increase!"

"If there is such a thing, I don't know about it." She smiled and waved a hand dismissively. "You'll do fine. Just let the Mythos you are using guide your actions, that's all."

He ran after her shouting at the top of his lungs. "Easy for you to say, but if I did that I'd have lit you on fire by now!"

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_Duel Question: Can you give some examples of Effect Monsters in the last few chapters which have Ignition Effects? What about Trigger and Continuous Effects?_


	7. The Duel 6 Challenge

_Duel Rules; Volume One; Magic Cards_

_Without the use of magic cards a duelist will quickly find themselves at a disadvantage against most opponents. Magic cards are the ability of the duelist to fight in a duel on their own terms, and with them they can change the very rules of the game sometimes; powering up monsters beyond their original attack power, drawing extra cards to replenish resources, or even bring about different kinds of various changes in gameplay._

_Normal Magic Cards- These cards have no symbols on them, and they can only be activated during a player's main phase. Some have special requirements to be activated, or need costs. In either of these cases these cards are very crucial to a deck, and most run at least eight or so._

_Quickplay Magic Cards- The most versatile of cards in the game, quickplay magic cards can not only be played from a player's hand at any time during their turn, but they can be set facedown and activated like trap cards during the opponent's turn as well. The symbol representing them is a lightning bolt._

_Equipment Magic Cards- These cards, when activated, equip themselves to a monster in play. In most cases they either increase/ decrease attack power or grant a new ability/penalty, but in some extreme cases there have records of cards which can equip and grant powers to duelists themselves, or even to other magic and trap cards. _

_Continuous Magic Cards- A continuous magic card remains in play after activation, and will normally grant its effect for an extended period of time until it is destroyed. Unlike most magic cards which even if destroyed still activate their effects, when a continuous card is destroyed its effect cannot continue to activate unless its card text states otherwise._

_Ritual Magic Cards- The key card to summon ritual monster cards. When you use this card you pay the cost on the card and then follow the text of the card to summon the ritual monster from your hand. (This is the general case, but some ritual magic cards work otherwise.)_

_Field Magic Cards- Field magic cards are the staples of many different kinds of decks. They possess amazing powers, and remain in play like continuous magic cards do. However, unlike continuous magic cards they sacrifice the exclusivity of giving their ability just to you in exchange for greater power. This means that where a continuous magic card's effect might, for example, increase the attack of your monsters by 300; a field magic card would power up all monsters in play by 800. (This is just a general example. Most field magic cards power-up or give abilities only to a certain type of monster, so it is rare that both players would gain full benefits from it being in play.)_

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Back to Basics; Beginner Level

Chapter 7: The Duel 6 Challenge

And so Monday came uneventfully. Up above the sun rose with its usual timeliness, and Kagaiya's mother awoke under the same premise. She was downstairs cooking breakfast while her son and their guest slept. Or so she thought anyway.

"Get out of the bathroom, Miditsu!" Kagaiya banged his fist against the bathroom door roughly in an attempt to try and cut through the din caused by the girl's choice to sing while she was showering. "I'm going to be late for school if this keeps up! Come on, it's not like you have anywhere to go today!"

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"Bye mom!" Dressed in his black school uniform, Kagaiya headed off in the direction of school immediately. After all, he was late enough as it was.

So, what's with the strange outfit?" From behind him Miditsu, dressed in another pair of his old jeans and a t-shirt, followed the boy at a pace perfectly matching his own. "Are you employed in the military or something?"

"Of course not!" He turned and glared at her. "Why are you following me anyway!? Don't you have something better to do, like maybe try and locate some of the Mythos or something!?"

"I don't have the ability to do so, and even if I did you aren't the boss of me." She returned his glare and stomped past him. "Why are you so insolent anyway?"

"Because you're so arrogant!" He threw his hands up and picked up the pace. "I don't have time for this; I'm already going to be late enough as it is!"

"Hey Kagaiya!" The door to the house that had just been passed flew open and Heiku came rushing out, dressed in his school uniform. "You forgot about me!?"

"Apparently so!" Kagaiya kept walking, refusing to even look back in Miditsu's direction.

"You're so cruel!" Heiku came flying up from behind his friend and grabbed the collar of Kagaiya's shirt, shaking him up a little bit. "I can't believe that you would forget me after all the trials we've experienced and all of the time we've spent together as friends!"

"Get off of me!" Kagaiya brushed the offending hands off of him and kept going towards school. "Sheesh, grabbing my uniform like that…"

"And who, exactly, are you?" Heiku turned his head around and looked at Miditsu suspiciously. "You were talking to Kagaiya, so you know him?"

"She's nobody, ignore her and maybe she'll go away," Kagaiya called without turning around.

Heiku continued to stare at the rather indifferent-seeming Miditsu…and suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs.

Caught by surprise because of the sheer volume of the cry, Kagaiya turned around just in time to see his friend rushing up with the most bizarre mixture of anger, pride, and envy on his face. ("I'm almost afraid what's going to come out of this guy's mouth now that I've seen the look on his face.")

"You've been seeing a girl behind my back all this time, and I never even realized!" Heiku exclaimed this up to the heavens as loud as he could.

"W…w…w…" Kagaiya cut himself off before he started screaming to, taking a deep breath to clear both his throat and the blush which threatened to appear on his cheeks. "What are you babbling about?"

"It's so obvious!" Heiku held up three fingers. "Three clues gave you away! The first was the fact that you are so quick to dismiss her, a perfect attempt to make me forget she was there! Second, you two were arguing like a married couple, classic behavior of a couple that's dating! Third; and this is the most important," He pointed at Miditsu, who now looked extremely amused by the antics of this strange person. "She's a total babe! Those long blond strands, those beautiful green eyes, and that delicate aura she seems to give off! She's a princess and if you aren't dating her then you must be crazy! What do you have to say to that, huh!?"

Kagaiya had gone silent, his bangs hanging over his eyes.

("I suppose he's going to backtrack now,") Miditsu mused to herself. ("After all, in the wake of three such facts how would be possibly even begin to disprove that we have any kind of romantic connection?")

"I have something I'd like to say to you in response to that," Kagaiya said calmly, his hand slowly coming up.

Heiku didn't look triumphant. All of a sudden he looked rather down as he realized something. ("What have I just wrought upon myself?")

"You've got a lot of nerve trying to pass stuff like that off as evidence of anything," The look on Kagaiya's face was unlike anything ever seen before. He was not just confident, but almost excited. The only time he'd ever been like this recently, to Heiku, had been when he had been dueling against Tensei.

("I walked right into his territory, like a true fool…") Heiku braced himself; this was going to be painful.

"Let's take this one at a time." Kagaiya brought a single finger up, still smiling confidently. "If I had wanted you to ignore her then what purpose would it serve to even direct attention to her? Had I just ignored her then wouldn't it have made a whole lot more sense?"

A slow twitch overcame Heiku's brow momentarily, but otherwise he kept his composure. "Yeah…"

Two fingers came up. "I shouldn't even need to get started on the second, but let's do it anyway. You said that she and I were arguing 'like a married couple' and therefore that somehow meant she and I was romantically connected? By that logic you and I have been married for years now. So, who's the wife and who's the husband?" This last statement was sarcastic, but it still carried that strange intensity his voice was ringing with now.

Heiku was twitching quite a bit more now, and was starting to look a little frustrated.

"And thirdly…" Kagaiya suddenly lunged his hand over Heiku's shoulder and pointed directly at Miditsu. "You know for a fact that I don't like blond hair, arrogant people, and tomboys!" His eyes were now brimming with that green glow from before, and it was getting brighter with each passing moment.

"Hey, who are you calling a tomboy!" Miditsu shouted over at him.

"I…well…" Heiku stammered something weakly and took a couple of steps back. "ARGH! I hate it when you get like that!"

Kagaiya's sudden intense moment broke down as he looked down at the watch on his wrist. "Oh crap, I'm really late now!" Breaking full speed down the road, he charged in the direction of school as fast as his legs would carry him.

While Kagaiya disappeared into the distance with a dust cloud as his marker, Miditsu walked up to Heiku slowly with an uncharacteristically interested look on her face. "What exactly what that just now? That glow in his eyes, I mean."

"Oh that?" A slow sigh came from Heiku's lips and he shrugged his shoulders. "And here I thought it was just my imagination every time I saw it. I don't have any idea what it is, but he only gets like that when he is pouncing into an argument."

"Interesting…" She shrugged her shoulders and headed back towards the house. "Well, I suppose I'll ask him about it later."

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_A few hours later…_

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"Hey Kagaiya," Heiku asked while in the background the sound of the school bell could be heard. "You're going to come with me to the Duel Club meeting today right? I mean this is the monthly sign-up day for clubs, and all students are required to have entered one by the end of the week right?"

"Really?" Kagaiya frowned and rolled his shoulders. "Maybe I should just take up that offer I got from the Debate Club captain."

"What, you got a personal invitation!?"

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Outside the windows of the classroom the schoolyard was completely empty, but inside it was still bustling as the gathered potentials for the Duel Club talked amongst themselves, currently sitting in the desks as they waited for the members to arrive. Most of the conversation was fairly light-hearted, since this was just a club that more or less existed so that they could play around after school.

The door opened and the loud sounds of conversation died down rather rapidly amongst the gathered applicants for the club. A boy dressed in a basic black school uniform casually walked in and approached the blackboard. Stopping in front of it, he brought a piece of chalk out of his pocket and started marking up the board with the words "Welcome to the Duel Club, do not expect to make it into this club without a fight."

("That's how you make new members feel welcome, threaten them.") Kagaiya sighed in frustration and wondered why he was even here. His dueling skills were nothing compared to the Duel 6, since that was the level of Kashi-sensei.

"You want to be a member of this club?" The uniformed boy turned to face the gathered potentials, his spiked red hair and hazel eyes an odd combination. "You want come here and play some games every day after school? Just a little bit of friendly competition?"

A few of the applicants nodded.

"Then you've come to the wrong place," He sneered, one side of his upper lip lifting just enough to show off his canine teeth. "This isn't for casual dueling. If you're here then you're here to duel at full force against the members of the Duel 6."

The door opened again and five more people walked in altogether. The third of them, a uniformed man with his long black hair done up into a ponytail, walked over to the red-haired boy and glared at him coldly. "Inami, you were told to welcome them to the club, correct?" His voice was deep and focused. It was the kind of thing that instantly demanded respect from anyone that heard it.

"Yeah, and I did, right?" Inami turned and glared at the rest of the gathered potentials threateningly.

The ponytailed man pointed up at the board for his proof. "You cannot threaten away potentials just because you may feel they are unworthy. If you want to prove such a thing then beat them in a duel."

"Huh? Why should I if it's obvious that they're crap?" Inami motioned over at Heiku. "This guy for example, he can't possibly be a good duelist. Just look at that stupid haircut. How could somebody who cuts their hair into a bowl like that expect to be taken seriously?"

Heiku looked like he was about to say something when Kagaiya brought his hand out and grabbed his friend's elbow. "Easy now, don't let him goad you."

"That's enough, Inami." The ponytailed young man turned to face the rest of the class. "This man is the second-year Inami Harugi, your senpai and one of the Duel 6."

Another of the students stepped forward, a boy that seemed to be the same age as Inami. He had his reddish-brown hair messily placed into a short continuous wave down his head. "Don't be so cold-hearted, Inumi. These freshmen seem like they have a lot of potential, nyow."

"Shut it, Neoshi, and my name isn't Inumi!" The red-haired boy grabbed the front of the other boy's shirt roughly. "Or would you like me to knock you out in front of all these promising freshmen?"

"That's enough, both of you!" The black ponytailed boy stated coldly. "I will not have members of the Duel 6 act like this!"

Both of the straightened up immediately. "Yes sir Captain!"

("Captain") Kagaiya asked himself before bringing his attention over to the other three people that had entered.

One of them was Kashi-sensei, dressed in his school uniform with his glasses practically glowing with the amount of glare they gave off. Next to him was a girl dressed in a school uniform, but where as normally the girl's uniforms had a mixture of black and white hers was all black, buttons and all.

Last of them was someone that Kagaiya only vaguely remembered. "Hey Heiku, do you remember that guy with the blue hair? He looks familiar."

Heiku glanced over at him and his jaw dropped. "That was the guy that was commenting on your duel against Tensei!" His voice was hushed, but he had trouble not shouting that at the top of his lungs.

"I am Kyo Sutarage," the black ponytailed boy said, stepping in front of the two chastised members. "For those of you here for the first time, I'd like to welcome you to the Katama School's Duel Club. I hope you possess the necessary skills to pass the basic skills exam."

Kashi took a step to the center of the classroom and turned to face the students with a polite and warm smile on his face. "I am Kashi Kenja and I hope all of you do well today. Many of you look very promising, and whether you believe it or not there are some members of us that want to duel you right away."

This stuck in Kagaiya's mind and he wondered who Kashi-sensei was talking about.

The girl stepped forward and emotionlessly muttered, "Hinawa Buosa." Then she stepped over to the side so that the blue-haired boy could take her place.

"Shinen Futome," He cheerfully said and bowed slightly to the potentials. "I hope all of you have come here today to have fun, despite whatever scary things that Inami-kun said."

"Now then, without any further ado," Kyo unstrapped a small bag he had been carrying from his back and placed it on the desk normally used by the teacher of that room. "You will each select one piece of paper out of this bag. This is the exam determination process."

One by one each of the potentials walked up and pulled a piece of paper out of the bag without looking, returning to their seats and waiting for the next order.

"Now then," He pointed out the door they had all come in front. "Please clean up after yourselves and follow us to the Duel Club, and do not look at your paper beforehand."

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The Duel Club was just one of the school classrooms with its seating assembled so that most of the desks were facing each other. This was so there was enough room for the playmats to be set up. "This is the Duel Club, and if you pass this exam this room will become just as much your responsibility as it is ours."

Each of the members of the Duel 6 went over and sat down at a specific pair of desks, all of them positioned a little bit away from each other to allow for some space.

Kyo didn't sit down just yet, but instead looked over at the confused group of potentials. "Please open your paper now and divide yourself into groups according to the names on them. Then, one by one you will come over and duel whoever's name is on your piece of paper. If you can last longer than ten turns total then you pass the exam."

A round of surprised cries sprang up from the potentials as they looked at their papers and started to fearfully spread out into groups for the exam.

Heiku seemed to be the only one that was excited about this. He ran over to his Duel 6 member and pointed at him angrily. "I'm going to get revenge for those cruel things you said about me, you jerk!"

Inami smirked darkly at him from his seat. "Ooooo, scary. Are you going to serve me fruit in the bowl you wear on your head too?"

"That's it, it's on now!" Dropping down into his seat, Heiku pulled his deck out and placed it in front of Inami. "Go ahead and let's shuffle each other's decks first!"

"With pleasure," Picking up his examinee's deck, the Duel 6 member started to shuffle the stack slowly while Heiku did the same. "Because of the exam rules you get to determine who goes first."

They placed their decks down and retrieved the one belonging to them. "I'll go first," Heiku said while drawing five cards from his deck.

"Good, I like getting to go second anyway." Inami drew his opening hand as well.

"Good luck buddy," Kagaiya commented while pulling up a chair so he could watch the duel.

"Huh, did you get this jerk too Kagaiya?" Heiku seemed pretty surprised by that. "Wow, you lucky dog you get to look at his strategy before you play him."

Meanwhile Inami was smirking proudly at this turn of events. ("Not only do I get to utterly destroy this bowl-head, but I get to play the kid that dueled against the junior pro duelist that showed up on Saturday?") This was going to be a good day.

"Oh, I don't know who I'm playing yet." Kagaiya held up his still-folded piece of paper to show that he had yet to look at it. "I just wanted to see you duel Heiku, to give me confidence and all that."

Inami's right eye twitched a couple of times and he turned to snarl at Kagaiya. "Go away if you're not one of my examinees!"

"Uh oh," Neoshi called from across the room. "It looks like somebody made Inumi mad, nyow!"

"What was that Neoshi, you bastard?" Inami leapt out of his chair so he could face his fellow second-year. "Do you want to die!?"

"Neoshi! Inami!" Kyo raised his voice without moving at all from his position. "Ten laps around the school, now!"

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_Several minutes later…_

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Sitting back down in his seat, Inami wiped a couple drops of sweat from his forehead and picked up the five cards he had set off to the side of his playmate. "Now then, I'm going to take a couple pounds of flesh out of your hide."

"Bring it on!" Heiku pressed down on the top card of his deck and drew. "I start my turn." Adding it to his hand, he grinned at what he saw. ("Alright!")

He took a card from his hand and placed it facedown horizontally in a monster zone, and then vertically set a card behind it. "I place one card facedown and one monster. End turn."

"And now you lose." Inami drew, planning on venting his frustration out on this bowl-head. "I play the magic card Enchanted Fitting Room. By paying 800 life points I can look at the top four cards of my deck and any level three or lower monsters that are revealed are special summoned, while the rest of the cards are shuffled into my deck." His hand reached over and picked up a pencil sitting nearby, and with it he marked his life point score of 8000 to 7200. Then he picked up the top four cards of his deck and revealed them. "One Wolf, two Silver Fangs, and one Frenzied Panda."

His hand brought the four cards down and placed them, one by one, face-up on his field in attack position. (1200/800) (1200/800)x2 (1200/1000)

Heiku gaped at the duel field. "What the…four monsters!"

"And I'll summon another Wolf." Inami placed another yellow-bordered card face-up on his field. (1200/800) "And now for my killer card combo!" He placed a card face-up in his magic and trap zone. "I activate the continuous magic card Poison Fangs."

"Continuous magic cards?" Heiku asked bewilderedly, getting a glare in response. "What are you getting all upset about!?"

"You're telling me you don't know what a continuous magic card is!?" Inami snarled and grabbed the collar of Heiku's uniform. "A continuous magic card is a card that remains in play regardless of if its effect goes off or not. Get it?"

"Got it," Heiku returned the snarl with one of his own before he was released.

"Good." Inami pointed at his Frenzied Panda monster card. "I'll be attacking your weak little facedown monster with my strongest in play, so lets see what it is."

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Kagaiya sighed, after having been chased off by Inami he had taken a walk to look at the other clubs. His chances of winning were slim, regardless of the name on his paper anyway. ("Oh well, at least I got to see the Favorites in their natural environment.")

Suddenly the back of his hand started glowing, the Glyph-Gate releasing a soft green light. ("I really wish I was dumb enough to think that is a good thing.") After not seeing anything particularly out of place down the hall and behind himself, he closed his eyes and listened quietly.

Then he could hear it, albeit how soft it was. Somewhere nearby there was a banging noise of wood on wood. ("Just down the hall I think.") Opening his eyes he ran down to the end of the hall, stopping at each door to peek inside. So far he didn't see anything.

However the door at the far end of this hall…the windows were blackened out. With a frown on his face he pulled it open and prayed that he was just going to embarrass himself. ("If I run into another thing like Wild Inferno what I am going to do? If I duel it I'll have only three minutes until I might as well just quit…") Clenching his glowing fist, he took a deep breath and walked through the breach while fishing that same Mythos card out of his pocket. ("This time though, I've got the advantage. I wonder if whatever is in here is fireproof.")

As he fully walked inside the door behind him slid shut and everything lit up brightly, and he was somewhere else other than the school...

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_Rulings: Can you activate a quickplay magic card during the turn it has been set facedown on your field?_


	8. The Masked Justice

_Duel Rules; Volume 1; Trap Cards_

_Trap cards are the secret weapon of a duelist. With them you can do incredible things such as stop attacks, counter the activation of an opponent's cards, or even apply powerful effects that will turn the duel in your favor over time._

_Normal Traps- Lacking a symbol, these are the cards you turn to in most situations. A normal trap cannot be activated during the turn it is set facedown on your field, but afterwards you practically use it at anytime you want._

_Counter Trap- This is the fastest type of card in the game. To simplify things, once a counter trap has been activated only counter traps can be activated in response to its effect. That makes this type of trap extremely helpful to a duelist._

_Continuous Trap- The long-laster of traps. Continuous traps remain in play after activation, and like continuous magic cards can constantly bestow their powers upon you field. However, like continuous magic cards if they are destroyed their effects will disappear, even if you just activated them._

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Back to Basics; Beginner Level

Chapter 8: The Masked Justice

Inami casually marked down the life point score, from 8000 to 1200. "Well let's see, just for verification I'll tell you what Poison Fangs does. Whenever you take battle damage to your life points from one of my Beast sub-type monsters then you take an extra 500 damage. Therefore you take 2000 total. Plus the four 1200 attack points of my monsters…and you've only got a 1200 life point leg to stand on, Bowl Boy. End turn."

Heiku drew, but his hands were already trembling. ("Seriously? Am I getting this badly flattened? What do I do then?") The single card was added to his hand and he looked at the trap he had set earlier. ("It was a good card but my facedown Battle Warrior couldn't make good use of it. Therefore…") Grasping another card from his hand, he bit his lower lip. ("I have to last at least seven more turns past this one.")

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Kagaiya was in a dream, which was the only explanation for it. This place was far too familiar to him for it to be any other way. ("This place is…")

It was a courtroom, no two ways of going around that. And he was near the back, standing at the end of the audience. Up front were the tables for the defense and the prosecution, and past that there was the judge's seat. ("This is odd…is this caused by the Mythos?") He looked to his sides and found the audience seats were occupied…but something was odd about the people occupying the seats. They were fake, literally. A bunch of wooden dolls dressed in clothing. ("Bizarre enough…")

"But…I…" Someone up at the front of the room stammered out. "I didn't do anything like that!"

"Then would you care to disprove this evidence?" A cold and calculating voice whispered out from the other side of the front of the room.

The lights in the room grew dark and a projector came on, shining an image onto a screen next to the judge's seat. Kagaiya watched as the first image shown was that of a can sitting on a table in what appeared to be a cafeteria…actually, upon closer inspection, he realized it was one of the tables that were located outside, close to the booth that sold lunches to the students. ("Odd…what kind of bizarre…")

His eyes could only widen in what happened next, as a wind blew the can off the table. Then the image, which could have only come from a camera, followed it as it bounced down the grassy hill he knew the tables were located near. It rolled all the way past that and then, finally, came to a stop in the middle of the only road that went through to the school. ("Wow, that was pretty amazing…the hill is about twenty feet from the tables.")

The image panned out and showed the road and the can now. A faint honking noise could be heard somewhere a distance from the camera. Then the owner of that noise came into view as a heavy tanker truck, the kind that Kagaiya sometimes would see driving through the town on their way to somewhere, came rumbling down the road. ("What's so…")

Any further questions he had were overpowered the sound of the tanker exploding as its front tire touched the can in the middle of the road, turning the vehicle into a burning hunk of scrap metal.

"…." If Kagaiya could pull his jaw back into its proper place from where it was hanging, then he didn't know how.

"The prosecution's argument is simply this. Because of your negligence the can in the road caused that explosion, which in turn means you should be held responsible for the destruction of the property of the company which owned that truck." The lights came back on, though the image on the burning tanker trucks remains stayed.

"That's ridiculous!" The frightened voice shouted as loud at they could. "How is this possibly my fault!?" Kagaiya finally saw who was speaking and found himself rather surprised by their identity. ("The Captain of the Debate Club?")

"I counter your argument with this!" Across from the Captain, dressed in a purple business suit with black ruffles around the wrists and collar, was a man wearing a blue mask with red marks around the eyes. Lifting up a hand, he pointed directly at the junior high school boy and raised his cool voice a bit in volume. "How is it possibly not your fault? Provide me with evidence that says that can which caused that explosion isn't your fault."

"But how am I…that can't be…" The Captain, despite how Kagaiya remembered him when the request to join the Debate Club had been, was currently sweating and looked like he was on the verge of admitting this was somehow his fault. "Please…it was just a can and I was in a hurry and…"

"Tardiness doesn't excuse the fact you caused that explosion because of your negligence, and as such the Prosecution strikes that as proper punishment the Defendant is treated the same way his offending article which caused this disaster was treated…" The voice of the masked man grew dark, cold, and merciless. "Crushed to a pulp and then lit aflame…"

"That's insane!" The Captain stumbled towards the wall, his eyes wide in terror. "Who are you anyway!? Why!? Why are you trying to blame me for this!?"

Kagaiya pursed his lips, arms crossed, and watched this from the very front of the audience seating. All that stood between him and the metaphorical 'battlefield' (though in this case he would have called it a mindless slaughter) was the wooden swinging door placed along with the wooden fence that cut the audience off from interfering with the proceedings.

"Because I am an agent of law and justice!" The masked man slammed his hand down on his desk and leaned forward a little, his voice gaining an almost demonic tone to it. "Well, Defendant, what do you have to say in the face of justice, law, and above all the truth!? Admit your guilt and perhaps, just maybe, you can lessen your death sentence to something not quite so painful!"

"I…I…" The Captain, his back against the wall of the courtroom now, slid to his knees and gripped his head in his hands. "I…I did…"

"If your next word is 'it' then I'm relieved I passed on your invitation to join this club." Kagaiya called out, his voice echoing across the courtroom which was far too big for the space it should have encompassed. From behind and to his sides he heard an almost canned whispering and hushed conversation noise, most likely to add to the effect of the audience seeming real. "If in the face of such a fraud you can't defend yourself then how exactly does this schools Debate Team stand a chance against a bunch of elementary schoolers, much less someone their own age and experience level?"

"And just who are you?" The masked man turned his attention to look directly at Kagaiya, his eyes a pair of glowing green orbs. "You can see we are in the middle of a trial, can you not? Baliff, detain this man!" From off to his side a wooden doll dressed in a police officer's uniform started to steadily approach.

Kagaiya snorted and hopped over the gate, buttoning up the top button of his uniform. "I apologize for being late, Your Honor. My name is Kagaiya Tomoshi, and I am the Lawyer for the Defendant, Mr. Thomas Ato." He walked over to the Defendant's side of the room completely ignoring the slowly approaching wooden Bailiff.

"I see, so you're the Defense…" The wooden doll dressed up as a Judge banged its gavel down in front of it. "Very well then, I will call a ten minute recess for Mr. Ato's Lawyer to get situated…"

"I object to that and remind Your Honor that in about fifteen minutes or so we must start the next batch of trials!" The masked man pointed at Kagaiya. "As such, I can only afford you about seven minutes or so, my apologies dear Lawyer." The smugness in his tone was the kind of thing one would expect from a person who thought they had already won.

"Give me three and a quick list of what evidence you have and you have yourself a deal." Kagaiya took his place standing in the Defense's spot. Looking down, he noted a single manila folder and flipped it open to find a couple of pieces of paper inside. "Ah, never mind. I see my evidence list is right here. Please give me a moment and I'll be ready."

From behind him the Captain, having recovered some of his composure, walked up to Kagaiya with as much authority as he could muster considering just how badly shaken up he was. "What are you doing, Freshman? As Captain of the Debate Team I can handle this myself! I was merely…" His hand came to a rest on Kagaiya's shoulder, but just as quickly it was brushed away.

"If you want to come out of this unharmed, as well with this trial over and done with before four thirty rolls around and the rest of your club shows up to get involved, then please don't protest to this. Trust me, I've got this covered." Kagaiya didn't look behind him as he continued to skim the papers in from of him. "Besides, this guy said something I find unacceptable…and with that as my driving force I'm more than ready to prove the truth."

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"I summon Swordsman of Landstar in attack mode." The card he placed into play was a monster with a picture of a strange humanoid warrior. (500/1200) "Also I activate my facedown trap card, Ultimate Offering." The card he flipped over was a continuous trap card with a picture of a hand dripping blood to the ground. "This card lets me pay 500 life points to normal summon or set a new monster from my hand during my main phase or your battle phase. With it I normal summon another Swordsman of Landstar." (500/1200)

Inami marked his opponent's life points down to 700. "So what? Two weaklings still equal nothing."

"Yeah, but I'm going to sacrifice these two to normal summon my Flame Ogre." Placing the two monsters into his graveyard, Heiku dropped a monster card with a picture of a hulking red beast-humanoid into play. (2400/1700) "When this monster is tribute summoned I draw one card." Removing a card from his deck and adding it to his hand, he waited until Inami had marked his life points down to 200. "And now to push your advantage back a little bit with this card."

The card that came down onto his field had a picture of a multi-armed and blue-skinned human surrounded by a spray of blue glitter. "The ability of Asura Blessings gives one monster on my field the ability to attack all face-up monsters on your field once at the cost of a card from my hand." He smirked confidently and pointed at Inami's five monsters. "That means he attacks all of them!"

Inami scooped the cards up and did a quick damage tally on his piece of paper. "That puts me at 1300, but it puts you at even less. Sorry fool." He placed a new monster onto his field, this one having a picture of a humanoid wolf howling up into a starry night sky. "Burst Silver Werewolf activates its effect when my Beasts go to the graveyard. It special summons itself to my field. Also, for every Beast in my graveyard it gains 200 attack points." (2000/1700)---- (3000/1700)

"Also," He marked his life points down to 300. "At the cost of 1000 life points, when a Beast is destroyed, I can special summon Forest Guard Green Baboon from my hand or graveyard to the field in attack mode." (2600/1800)

Heiku frowned, but he wasn't discouraged. ("I managed to turn it around so quickly, we won't even get to the tenth turn at this rate.") The other two cards in his hand were placed facedown in his magic and trap zone. "I place two cards facedown and end my turn."

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"It's time to complete what is already a lost battle." The masked man stood before the court and started pacing as he talked. "As it has already been established, the Defendant left an empty can of fruit juice on top of the table he had been using. When a strong wind came by it was blown down the hill next to where he had been sitting. Rolling into the middle of the road, it then caused the tanker truck running over it to explode. This is fact."

The canned voices of the audience grew a little louder, with many murmurs of things such as 'what a horrible man' and 'I hope he gets the death sentence'.

"It would seem the Prosecution has already sealed this case shut on your client, mister Tomoshi." The wooden judge turned his faceless head towards Kagaiya. "Are you certain you want to defend him? If he is found guilty you will share his fate."

Kagaiya cleared his throat and stood quietly, eyes closed.

"I take that as an agreement, very well." The Judge turned towards the masked man. "Mr. Advocate, though we are indeed on a time limit could you please resubmit the evidence you have provided thus far for the sake of mister Tomoshi?"

"If I must, Your Honor." The masked man sighed exaggeratedly and pointed to the projector and screen. "Show Evidence A!"

The projector clicked on to show a picture of Thomas sitting at the very table shown in the video, sipping something out of a can and reading out of a book. "This confirms, without a doubt, what the Defendant was doing during lunch. He was enjoying his drink outside while reading. Do you have any objections to this evidence?"

Kagaiya shook his head, barely expending any effort at all in the action. "Not at all. Without a doubt, that does in fact prove what my client was doing at the time. I have no objections about the photo, so feel free to move on to the next piece of evidence."

The projector clicked loudly and then started humming. On the screen the video shown earlier started playing while the masked man spoke. "This is a video taken by a student testing out some of the school equipment. According to them they followed the path of the can to see how the zoom worked, and as such caught video footage of this unfortunate accident." Just as he finished the tanker truck exploded in a burst of flames. "This proves that the can was…"

"Hold on a moment, if you please." Kagaiya lifted a hand and pointed at the screen. "I'm kind of curious about something. Could you please go back to the part when the can had yet to make it to the top of the hill, about ten seconds or so into the video's beginning?" The projector did so, stopping at that exact point. "Hmmm, as I thought…"

"As you thought?" The Judge questioned. "Would you care to elaborate for the court?"

Kagaiya smiled calmly and cleared his throat. "According to the documented testimony of my client, he purchased the juice from a dispenser and found the nearest table to sit at to enjoy it." He tapped the paper he had read from at a certain line, as if he had found something there. "This school has an interesting geographical location, as it has hills on three sides of it, leading down to the road which winds around the bottom of the hills and then reaches the front of the school, correct?"

"That would be correct," The masked man confirmed, sounding more than a little cautious all of a sudden. "Why bring that up here?"

"Because the only place outside the interior of the school where there are drink machines is the north side of the school, which means that according to his testimony it happened there." Kagaiya pointed at the skyline of the frozen image. "What do you see there?" In the distance there was nothing but forest for quite a ways. "Lots of trees, correct?"

The masked man stiffened slightly. "Yes…what does the scenery have to do with this?"

"If it pleases the court, I'd like to reference the picture submitted by the Prosecution." On the screen the picture changed to that of the one presented earlier, showing Thomas sitting and reading with his drink. "Let me be a bit of a broken record and ask again, what do you see there?"

The masked man made a 'snrk'-ish noise as the audience erupted into hushed conversations while the Judge banged his gavel a few times to try and bring order to the court. "Build…buildings…."

"And the truth comes to light." Kagaiya started pacing in a mockery of the masked man's earlier actions. "According to the video the can was sitting on a table at what I assume is the east end of the school. However in this picture and in my client's testimony he must have had his drink at the north side of the school."

"Objection!" The masked man shouted loudly before pointing at the picture. "This means one of two things! Either the Defendant merely picked up his book and walked over to the east side of the school while drinking or he is lying!"

"I object to your objection then." Kagaiya held up a finger. "Your first theory is flawed. What kind of book is my client reading?"

This brought another 'snrk' noise from the masked man. "It's a…a…"

"A Science textbook and a particularly heavy one at that." Kagaiya pointed at a heavy book currently sitting on the Defense's desk. "That would be the book in question. Tell me something, Mr. Advocate…" He returned to the desk and tried, unsuccessfully, with one hand to lift up the textbook. "Why exactly would he go all that distance with this heavy book?"

"He wanted to watch the forest scenery instead of…"

"Hang on now, let's put basic logic into this one…" Kagaiya slammed a hand down onto the desk to cut off the masked man before he could start saying something untrue. "First off my client was reading the textbook, so what would it matter what the scenery in the far distance was? Secondly, lunch is thirty minutes long or so…and it takes ten just to walk from the east side of the school to the north and vice-versa! If my client did that then he would only have ten minutes to read and enjoy his drink."

"Not everyone is a bookworm, mister Tomoshi!" The masked man shouted in retort. "Think about it, he would have plenty of reason to want to look at the scenery instead of read…"

"Objection!" Kagaiya held up a piece of paper and shook his head vehemently. "Do you know what my client's first period was after lunch? It would be Science, and according to his class schedule they were having a test today on genetics, a rather difficult subject wouldn't you say?"

"That's all just your opinion!" The masked man's voice was excited now, extremely agitated. "If you're going for the theory that he was cramming then why would he leisurely be drinking a juice while reading before the big test anyway!?"

"According to the testimony I have Mr. Ato mentions him buying juice because it was a special occasion, as normally he is a soda drinker but he had heard that soda was bad for concentration." Kagaiya held up the testimony sheet. "Let's see…" He suddenly gave a rather smug smile. "I wonder what that occasion could be. Maybe you could enlighten us, Mr. Advocate?"

The masked man didn't respond, only starting to make a frustrated growling noise. "It's obvious that the Defendant is lying then!"

"Oh my, what a claim…" Kagaiya put the testimony sheet down and leaned forward a little. "Please, by all means, prove he was lying."

"P…prove?" The masked man looked like he was suddenly deep in thought. "I…I…I can't…"

"And the truth comes to light." Kagaiya pointed at the picture on the screen. "There is no logical reason my client, stressed about the science test, would bother changing the scenery when he was working hard cramming! As such he simply picked a nearby seat after purchasing his drink, placing him on the north side of the school! However according to the video, the can in question that caused this supposed accident was on the east side of the school! In other words a totally unrelated can of juice is the culprit here, not my client!"

The masked man's shoulders shook slightly and he chuckled mirthlessly. "Interesting, but it doesn't prove a thing against my real weapon in this case. The evidence that proves, without a doubt, that your client is responsible for this!" He waited for the despair to settle in…

But Kagaiya's only response was to smile. "I look forward to your last piece of evidence, but please be quick. We are running on a rather tight schedule."

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Inami drew and snickered darkly. "You already lost, because I activate Beast Roar." The magic card he placed down had a picture of a bunch of random animals roaring so loud that nearby glass windows were shattering. "This magic card deals you 200 points of damage for every Beast on my field. Sorry Bowl-Head, but its game over!"

"Not yet it isn't." Heiku flipped one of his set cards over to reveal a trap with a picture of a bunch of snickering goblin-like monsters in a classroom, awaiting the arrival of a smaller goblin with snickers as a bunch of erasers fell from the top of the door towards the newcomer's head. "This trap negates one effect damage card or effect and forces you to discard a card from your hand. So if you would please, drop your other hand card."

Inami placed the other card in his hand into his graveyard and then, frowning, pointed at the Flame Ogre card. "I discarded another Frenzied Panda, so my Burst Silver Werewolf is now at 3200. It attacks your pitiful monster to end this duel."

"That's what I was hoping you'd do." Heiku flipped his other set card over, revealing a trap with a picture of a pair of Landstar Swordsmen standing in front of a silhouette of a monster with their shields and swords at ready. "Landstar Reinforcements powers up the attack of a monster on my field by 500 for every Landstar named monster in my graveyard." (3400/1700) "During this turn my Flame Ogre is too tough, and since you already declared your attack…"

Inami snarled in anger and marked his life points to 100 while placing his Burst Silver Werewolf in his graveyard. "When my Werewolf is destroyed in battle and sent to the graveyard I can add a level three or lower normal Beast monster from my graveyard to my hand." He held up a Wolf card and then placed it facedown horizontally on his field. "I set a monster facedown and end my turn."

"Draw!" Heiku pointed at the set monster. "Let's get that Wolf out of here."

Inami placed it back in his graveyard pile, looking extremely upset at this sudden turn of events. ("Damn, this guy managed to come back from my rush and now I'm in danger of losing…")

"I set a monster facedown and switch my Flame Ogre to defense mode." Heiku turned the Flame Ogre card horizontal and then placed another horizontal card next to it. "End turn."

("In two more of my turns this Bowl-Head gets into the club…") Inami drew. ("I won't let that happen.") "I set one monster facedown and attack your Flame Ogre with my Baboon!"

Heiku placed the Flame Ogre into his graveyard. ("That kind of stinks…")

"I place a monster facedown on my field and end my turn." After setting his monster horizontally facedown Inami sneered. ("Des Koala is my best bet. With its flip effect you'll take 400 points of damage for every card in your hand. If you don't do anything then this is game over.")

"I'll draw…." Heiku looked at the card. "And end my turn."

"Gotcha!" Inami drew and flipped his set monster over, revealing a card with a picture of a koala with a darkish blue around surrounding it. "The flip effect of my Des Koala is that for every card you're holding you take 400 points of damage. This game is over!"

"Actually, not quite." Heiku held up both of his hands to show something interesting. "I'm not holding any cards in my hand."

"What!?" Inami noticed there was a new card, a monster in the Bowl-Head's graveyard. "How'd it get in there?"

"This is how." Heiku pointed at his currently face-up monster, which had a picture of a creature which resembled the Swordsman of Landstar, except instead of holding a sword and shield he was just holding a really big shield. "Landstar Gardna lets me discard a card from my hand to flip it face-up when it is facedown on my field. During the turn I do this it cannot be destroyed as a result of battle."

"…I…" Inami looked like he was about to snap, but instead he exhaled loudly and started picking up his cards, shuffling them together into a deck again. "Whatever, welcome to the club newbie. Don't expect to get anywhere."

"What are you doing?" Heiku protested. "We aren't done here!"

"You passed and there are more potentials to duel, so get out of the way." Inami had his eyes closed and didn't seem like he was willing to talk about it. "Hurry up and move or else I'll change my mind about you getting in."

Muttering angrily under his breath, Heiku stood up and took his cards with him while someone else took his place. ("What a gyp...")

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_Duel Question: Can the effects of already face-up Continuous Traps be used at any time. For example, can the trap card Call of the Haunted revive a new monster from the graveyard if its current monster has been sacrificed or sent to the graveyard in a way that didn't destroy it?_


End file.
